


for the sake of the child

by bloodredcherries



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Mentioned Fred Andrews
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2019-11-13 13:18:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18032450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodredcherries/pseuds/bloodredcherries
Summary: “I told you,” he said, his tone broken. “She’s not mine. What did you think that meant?”“She’s Hal’s, isn’t she?”“Alice, I’m sorry."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a canon divergent fic based off the theory that FP is not the biological father of JB Jones, which I originally read on faliceplease's tumblr. As it is canon divergent it is set in some vague version of season 3 where Alice has gotten out of the cult and Gladys has been sent to jail. I am truthfully not sure how I will handle Fred in this story. I am tagging him as tag because I probably will include him to some capacity but I am not sure as to what capacity at this point. I just want to be respectful.

“What are you doing here?” Alice whispered, her tone filled with sleep, as she opened her eyes and saw that FP was in her -- well, technically his -- bedroom, still dressed in his Sheriff’s uniform. “The kids are in the next room,” she continued. “I would have come over if you’d called me.” 

 

“Jelly--” FP started to say, and she sat up in bed and flipped on the lamp, which basked the room in a low light that highlighted her boyfriend’s terrible pallor. Alice wasn’t sure if that was entirely fair to FP, though. The trailer’s lighting system was rather poor, and she hadn’t had the energy to get around to replacing the bulbs in all of the lamps. It was possible that what she was viewing as a terrible pallor was the dim bulb failing to compete with the darkness outdoors. Though, she had to say that she didn’t think that dollar store light bulbs really led to a person looking like they were about to pass out or punch something. Alice knew that with FP it really could go either way. “She’s asleep. It’s fine. Fred is next door.” 

 

“Does Fred know about this newfound role in his life?” She questioned, trying to keep her tone gentle. She really didn’t want to have some disaster happen because FP was lonely and wanted to fuck her and thought that his next door neighbor was awake and watching his child. “Perhaps I should text him…”

 

“I couldn’t stay there,” he muttered. “I can’t -- I can’t be around her, Alice. She’s not mine.” 

 

“What are you talking about?” 

 

If this was the same, tired, old story that FP had gotten into his head about the baby that was on the way being Edgar’s, in spite of the blood tests that she and he had submitted to specifically to assuage his fears, Alice was going to throw her pillow at him. They didn’t even know  _ what _ they were having yet, and FP’s thoughts on the unborn child’s sex changed by the day, but she was  _ not _ having it. 

 

“She’s not mine,” he whispered. “The past  _ 10  _ years were all bullshit. My whole fucking life is just bullshit.” 

 

“Wait,” she said, trying to regain some sort of control over the situation, not that Alice thought that was even possible. “FP, are you talking about Jellybean? What do you mean, she’s not yours?”   
  


“Haven’t you noticed how she doesn’t look like me, at all?” He questioned, his tone wounded, as he paced back and forth like he was an animal in a cage. “Gladys always told me that she took after her, and I had no reason to doubt her. She was my wife. We’d been  _ trying  _ for a baby.” 

 

“I--”

 

“I thought about asking for a test but she was my daughter, Alice, I didn’t want to have her taken away from me,” he continued. “And I didn’t want to do anything to hurt her,” he added. “She’s a kid.” 

 

“Okay, honey,” she said, as she untangled herself from the sheets and rose from the bed, taking care to slip on an abandoned t-shirt, on the off chance that Jughead and Betty heard FP’s ranting and decided to come in and investigate (they were never good at leaving well enough alone), the last thing she wanted was either her daughter or his son seeing her in what she had worn to bed that evening: absolutely nothing. She crossed the room to where he stood, and she cautiously wrapped his hand in hers, and squeezed it tightly. “I don’t understand -- are you saying you had a paternity test done on JB?” 

 

“I told you,” he said, his tone broken. “She’s not mine. What did you think that meant?” 

 

Alice drew in a deep breath. “Honey,” she said, as she ran her hand down his back. “You have to calm down. It is going to do no one anything good if you have a heart attack over this.” She didn’t want to be cruel, but it was the truth. “Whatever the results of that paternity test were,” she continued, as she tried to collect thoughts that made sense from her hormone and sleep fogged mind. FP rarely had crises when she was at her mental best. “Those results are just an accident of biology. They don’t erase the ten years that  _ you  _ have been her father.” 

 

“You won’t think that when you know who the father is,” he mumbled. Alice arched her brows in confusion. The fact that FP thought she was petty enough to behave abhorrently to a literal child was...not without past precedence, she supposed, but she had hoped that FP had the sense to realize that Alice’s behavior towards the general population was entirely different than she would choose to behave towards his children. Even if Jughead and Jellybean behaved in manners that she disapproved of, they were FP’s children, and she had vowed to love them as her own. 

 

“First of all, the fact that you think I would take the results of your paternity test out on your child is disappointing, FP,” she said, now unfortunately more awake than she had planned to be in her prenaturally exhausted first trimester state. “I highly doubt that JB had anything to do with Gladys’s decision to cheat on you and pretend that the resulting pregnancy was the child the two of you planned on having. Frankly, if she did, I would have to be impressed.” 

 

“Second of all,” she told him. “What possessed you to test her now? You have full custody of both of them. That  _ can’t _ change because of this test. Gladys is incarcerated. You are the  _ only _ father that Jellybean has known. I don’t understand.” 

 

“She looks like Polly,” he said after a moment. “I didn’t want to think about it at the time,” he continued. “She was blonde, but babies are blonde. Gladys named her after me. Why would you name a baby after your husband if she wasn’t his?” FP rambled. “I thought she just took after her mother, or whatever,” he said. “I did the test and sent the results to that place that your girls did those blood tests for the inheritance,” he added. “They sent her this.” 

 

Alice peered at the envelope that FP had shoved in her general direction, and she carefully removed the documents, a bit wearied by the turn that her perfectly nice night of sleep had taken. “This is an inheritance check,” she said, as she turned the bankers check over in her hands. “This is legitimate, Jonesy. This is...a lot of money.” 

 

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I’m not letting her have it.” 

 

She decided to table her lecture on the importance of not throwing away large sums of money out of a grudge. It was both hypocritical and inappropriate, especially when faced with the crisis at hand. 

 

“She’s Hal’s, isn’t she?” 

 

“Alice, I’m sorry,” FP insisted. “I swear, I didn’t know. I didn’t know she was fucking him.”

 

“I’m not mad at you,” she said. “You have nothing to apologize for.” 

 

“How the hell am I supposed to come back from this?” He questioned. “She’s gonna know she’s not mine.” 

 

“Why do you think that?” Alice asked, entirely bewildered by FP’s concept of how to navigate parenting. He had been insistent that regardless of the results of the baby’s blood test that the baby was Alice’s and he would raise him or her as his own, but when faced with the reality that Alice’s life of being married to a serial cheater (and killer) and the fact that Gladys had been consistently hideous to him throughout his marriage, suddenly the daughter that he had raised would automatically know that he wasn’t her biological contributor, and discount 10 years of FP being her dad? The thought was beyond her. “Listen. FP.”

 

“What?”   
  


“You’re her father,” she stressed. “You’re the one that raised her, you are the only father that she’s known, and you will always be the only father she has known. I don’t want you to think that this unfortunate development means that you aren’t that child’s dad.” She took his hands in hers. “No, she won’t look like you,” she admitted. “What does that matter? I see so much of you in Jellybean. That’s what matters. Not this.” She gestured to the results. “That? That’s bullshit.” 

 

“You don’t think that she’s gonna know?” 

 

“Not unless you tell her,” she said. “And, honestly, would you? I certainly wouldn’t.” 

  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What would people think if our Sheriff brought home a half naked woman?” She teased. “In uniform and all?”

“Why wouldn’t you? Tell her, I mean.” FP was beyond confused. “No more secrets, no more lies, that’s what you said, wasn’t it? We agreed.” 

 

“Have you been drinking?” Alice demanded, and she shot him a glare. “I meant that between us, first of all, and even if I hadn’t meant solely us, why would I want Jellybean to know that her biological father is a damn serial killer? I wish I could take that away from my girls. They’ll  _ never  _ be able to escape it. The least we can do is spare Jellybean. She’s already been used nefariously by her mother, and I don’t even want to imagine what Hal would do if he got his hands on her. Maybe I would feel differently if he was just a jackass and not a murderer. I don’t know. What I don’t understand is you!” She cleared her throat. “You love Jellybean. I know that you do. I don’t get why that would change because of this  _ bullshit _ DNA test. She’s still your daughter, Jonesy. No matter what this says.”

 

“Won’t she be able to tell?” 

 

“Why?” Alice asked, and he watched her ghost her hand across her midsection, which he ached to touch. “You’re still her dad, honey. Nothing has changed for her. You’ve always been her dad and you always will be.” 

 

He drew in a deep breath. “You’re sure?” 

 

She nodded. “Yeah, honey, I’m sure.”

 

He ran his hands through his hair. He felt that it was possible that he had reacted badly -- though not around Jellybean, he noted. He’d been sure not to do it around her. Still.

 

“I should go home to her, shouldn’t I?”

 

“You want me to go with you?” Alice asked him, as he let her take his hand in hers and place them on her abdomen, where he knew their baby was. “It would be nice to spend the night with you, and maybe spend some time together tomorrow?”

 

“You’d still want to?” 

 

“Listen to me,” she said. “The only person who shares that asshole’s DNA that I don’t want to see -- besides him -- is Polly. And, honestly? I think I’d rather see Harold. At least I know he can’t hurt me anymore.” 

 

FP drew in a deep breath. He wrapped his arms around Alice, and drew her in for a kiss. He loved the feeling of her in his arms. In truth, he knew that he was being foolish. That Alice was right and he was still Jellybean’s dad. He was just hurt. He was embarrassed that he’d been dumb enough to believe that she was biologically his daughter for over a decade and his pride had taken a dramatic hit. 

 

But, Alice was right. Jellybean was his, even though she’d never look like him. He loved that little girl, even though she wasn’t as little anymore. He’d already missed so much. He wasn’t going to be the reason he missed more. 

 

“You really see me in her?” 

 

“We’re talking about JB, right? Slingshot wielding, JB? I look at her and I see you, honey. I don’t see Hal at all. Even if she isn’t as thrilled about the baby as we had hoped, she’s certainly nothing like him. She might look a little bit like Polly, but I don’t mind. She’s like you. Who cares what she looks like?”   
  


Alice leaned into him. “Let me go put on some pants.” 

 

“You know you can just wear that, babe, I sure as hell don’t mind.” He watched her as she opened the set of drawers that she’d put her clothes in after things had gone to hell with the farm, and with Gladys. He had offered to give her back the house, but it was clear that Alice was scared of the property. He was surprised that she was willing to spend the night there at all. Hell, he was surprised that somehow they’d stuck it out and made it work and were even having a baby together. 

 

He was afforded a nice view. His old t-shirt that she’d slipped on had ridden up slightly to expose the curve of her ass. He wasn’t going to lie. He liked what he saw. 

 

The walls of the trailer were thin, however, and he was feeling entirely too guilty about leaving JB alone to even consider dropping trou and taking Alice from behind in his former bedroom. 

 

She giggled, and she gave him a tender kiss, before she slipped on a pair of lounge pants. 

 

“What would people think if our Sheriff brought home a half naked woman?” She teased. “In uniform and all?”   
  


“And in my patrol car,” he added, as he kissed her again, before he knelt down and pressed a kiss to the little gummy bear that was inside of her. “What  _ would _ people think?” He chuckled. “Thank you. For calming me down.” 

 

“Trust me,” she said. “I get it. I would prefer my children not share his DNA either.” 

 

“You know I care for Betty, right? I care for her like she’s my own. Anything she needs, I’m willing to help her with.”

 

“Yeah, Jonesy, I know you do.”

 

“You really think that things will be okay?” 

 

“Of course I do,” she said. “Are they really ever okay?”   
  


“Aw, Al, they will be,” he whispered. “I promise.” 

 

He helped her into the car, and went around to the driver’s side, and drove away from the trailer park.

 

“You know,” Alice said, as she settled in her seat beside FP, his hand carefully positioned on her belly, not that there was much of anything there to feel. “I could go for a burger.” 

 

“Yeah?” 

 

“Well, I mean, since we’re out,” she told him. “Normally I just ignore my cravings, because I know that you don’t want me driving late at night, and you’re busy, but, yeah, I really want one. With fries, and onion rings, and a milkshake. That sounds  _ so _ good.” 

 

“I’m never too busy to help satisfy your cravings,” he said softly. “Alice, you can  _ always _ get in touch with me for  _ anything _ related to the baby. I told you.” 

 

“I’ve actually been thinking about that,” she said, her tone quiet. “I know that before, I wasn’t ready, when you asked me to move in with you. I don’t know if I’ll ever really be,” she admitted. “I just know that I  _ want _ to live with you, with the kids in one place. Will you still--do you still want me to?” 

 

“Al, of course I want you to,” he insisted. “I’ve never not wanted you to live with me. I just understood the house had bad memories for you. I respected that.” 

 

“It does,” she said. “But there were also good ones. And, I think that I could make more good ones with you, and with Jughead and Jellybean, and Elizabeth, and our little one on the way.” 

 

“Well, Al, I’d like that a hell of a lot,” he said, as he pulled into the parking lot of Pop’s. He leaned over and gave her a kiss. “I’ll be back? Unless you want to come in with me?”

 

“I’ll come in with you,” she said. “I don’t mind.” 

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Whatever it is, it’s my baby sibling, isn’t it? Even though Alice isn’t my mom? That’s what you said before.”
> 
> He forced himself to nod. Not that she could see him. “Yeah, of course, I meant what I said. That--that that biology aspect of it doesn’t matter, won’t matter to the baby. Doesn’t matter to me and Alice.”
> 
> “Of course it doesn’t matter,” Alice added. “It never has, and it never will.”

If any of the diner’s patrons were surprised to see Alice Smith-formerly-Cooper enter the diner in clothes that she would have never been caught dead in prior to her fall from grace and FP’s plucky little sperm becoming acquainted with her egg, they had the sense not to say anything. Whether it was because her mere presence inspired fear, or because she was hanging on to the Sheriff’s arm, she didn’t know. She was quite satisfied with the results, no matter the cause. 

 

“You want a burger, right, babe?” FP asked her, and she nodded. “What kind of milkshake?” 

 

She contemplated her choices, as she slipped on her glasses to properly view the menu. “Peanut butter,” she settled on, and she smiled at him as he tugged her closer, and let his hand protectively cover her navel. Alice did not think that was precisely where the baby was, but didn’t have the heart to correct him. “Ooh, and can you ask for some banana, too?” 

 

“Anything for you, baby,” he said. “Don’t think I haven’t forgotten your fries and onion rings.” 

 

“Oh, I know you haven’t,” she assured him. “Don’t you worry. I trust you.” She paused. “Did you even check to see if Fred was at home before you made your tear across town?” 

 

“Of course I did!” 

 

“Then what is he doing here?” Alice asked, and she nodded in the direction of the booth that Fred was sat at with Archie and Mary, as she silently prayed that none of them would notice her. Alice wasn’t against socially interacting with Fred and Mary. She just didn’t have the energy to fake interest in Archibald’s latest decision to depress her and society by becoming an amateur pugilist. “Is she with them?” 

 

“Christ,” he muttered. “How was I supposed to know with Mary home he’d develop a social life? God, Alice, I suck. I’m a shitty dad--”   
  


“No, you’re not,” she said. “Honestly. She’s ten, honey, it’s fine. If you’ll feel better about it, why don’t we bring something home for her?”   
  


“Yeah, maybe,” he muttered. “Probably screw that up, too.” 

 

“I’ll ask her,” she said, her tone decisive. “Don’t worry about it, honey. I’ll just explain that I was having a craving and you went out with me to get it.”

 

“Okay.” It was obvious that FP wasn’t okay, but Alice was willing to pretend that she believed him. “No, I can do it.” 

 

“Are you sure?” 

 

He scrubbed his face with his hand. “Yeah, Allie, I’m sure. Don’t you worry yourself over me.” 

 

Alice didn’t like being told what to do, and she appreciated FP telling her not to worry about him even less, but she drew in a deep breath and forced herself to be compassionate and calm, rather than treat her boyfriend to a bout of her hormonal rage. She hadn’t told many people about the baby that was on the way yet -- she wanted to wait until her first trimester was over, if she could help it -- and she didn’t want to have people think that she taken complete leave of her senses by indulging her baser instincts and screaming at their Sheriff. 

 

So, instead, she kissed him on the cheek, and took her to go bag from a perplexed looking Pop Tate, whom she gazed at beatifically. 

 

“With him for business, or pleasure?” Pop asked, a knowing gaze in his eyes, and she took a sip of her drink before answering. 

 

“Pleasure, of course,” she said. “FP might feel differently, though. I am awfully hard to control.” 

  
  


***

  
  


“Did you really bring me something to eat?” Jellybean demanded of him and Alice the second they opened the front door, and FP barely managed to not jump a mile. “I didn’t mean to ruin your date, I’m sorry,” she added.

 

“You didn’t ruin anything,” he said, his tone gruff. “We were gonna eat here, anyways.” 

 

“Why?” She demanded. “I would have been okay on my own.”

 

“I missed you,” Alice interjected, and he swallowed his sigh of relief. “And it wouldn’t have been very fair to you to not bring you Pop’s. Not when I know you like it so much.” 

 

“Did you really miss me?” 

 

“Of course I did,” she said. “I’ve just been--would you be okay if Elizabeth and I moved in with you and your dad, and your brother?” 

 

“Just you and Betty, right?” Jellybean questioned. “Not Polly or the twins with the weird names?”   
  


“Jellybean!” FP exclaimed, having been about to refer to her as Forsythia, but deciding against it. It hurt him too much to realize that she had only been named after him as part of a ruse. “I thought I explained to you that when Polly was tracked down, the twins  _ have  _ to live with us,” he said. “Remember how I told you that what Polly did was illegal? Like your mother?” 

 

“Yeah, you told me that she did bad things that could have hurt Alice,” she recounted. “Because of that farm or whatever. I just don’t like their names,” she shrugged. 

 

“It’s all right,” Alice said, her tone breezy. “I’m not very fond of them either. To answer your question, yes, just Betty and me, and the baby, when he or she is ready to be born.” 

 

“Or they,” she said, a smirk on her lips. Jellybean was either convinced that Alice was having twins or married to the idea of sending his girlfriend into a catatonic state as she processed the possibility of having twins. FP wasn’t sure which of the two options it was, but he fixed her with a pointed look, not at all amused. “What? Dad, it’s a thing. Twins are more common at your age.”

 

“What are you talking about?” 

 

“I looked it up,” she said. “It’s called google, Dad. Do you need me to teach you?”   
  


“I know how to google things, Jellybean,” he said. “What possessed you to look that up?”   
  


She flipped her ponytail over her shoulder, and plucked the bag of takeout out of his hands. “I wanted to. You were the one who said that I should try to be more sympathetic to Alice because she’s pregnant.” 

 

“You said that to her?” Alice asked, her tone soft. He felt her wrap her arms around his waist. “You didn’t have to do that, JB, I understand that you’re not happy about becoming a big sister, or about your dad dating me.” 

 

“I don’t care about that,” she said. “I just don’t like how everyone goes to the trailer all the time. No one ever invites me.” 

 

“I wasn’t aware that you wanted to go,” he said, trying to keep his tone gentle. “It’s not like we’re doing anything fun there,” he continued. “Especially your brother and Betty. They’re definitely doing boring, boring things.” 

 

Jellybean eyed him suspiciously. “I’m not a kid, Dad. I know what they’re doing.”

 

“So, you’d be okay with us moving in?” 

 

Alice’s nails had dug into the flesh of his arm, and he barely managed to hide his wince of pain. It was clear that Alice was nervous, and he didn’t want to make anything worse. If he accidentally freaked her out, there was always the chance she would leave, and he  _ couldn’t _ handle that. It was bad to admit that he couldn’t handle his own child, but it was true.

 

“Kind of always figured you would,” she answered. “You and Dad are having a baby together. And you don’t hate each other like him and my mom, so I figured you’d move in eventually, so that he could be around the baby.” 

 

“I--”

 

“Is the baby okay?” Jellybean barreled over him, a fact that he was grateful for, because he didn’t think he could lie to her and say that he didn’t hate Gladys. He didn’t hate Jellybean, even though it was sort of hard to look her in the eye, but he damn well hated her mother. “When’s your appointment? Can I come?” 

 

“Everything seems fine so far,” Alice said. “It’s the day after tomorrow. I don’t have a problem with you joining us, but, it’s really up to your father…” 

 

“You’d really want to come, Jells?” 

 

“Yeah,” she said, and he felt her wrap her arms around him. “Whatever it is, it’s my baby sibling, isn’t it? Even though Alice isn’t my mom? That’s what you said before.”

 

He forced himself to nod. Not that she could see him. “Yeah, of course, I meant what I said. That--that that biology aspect of it doesn’t matter, won’t matter to the baby. Doesn’t matter to me and Alice.” 

 

“Of course it doesn’t matter,” Alice added. “It never has, and it never will.” 

 

“Cool,” she chirped. “Can we eat now? I’m starved.” 

 

“Sure, Jellybelly,” he mumbled. “We can eat now.” The nickname came out without him thinking better of it, and he wanted to correct himself, but, whatever. He could just deal with every memory he’d ever had of his only daughter being tainted by the fact that she wasn’t his daughter and it was all lies. “Go ahead.” 

 

“Why don’t you get changed, honey?” Alice suggested. “Surely you want to get out of your uniform and into something more comfortable?” 

 

“Yeah,” he said. “That sounds good. I’ll be back, okay, JB?” He ruffled her hair. “You can keep Alice out of trouble for a few minutes, right?” 

 

She nodded. “Yeah, totally.” 

 

“You can tell me about school, Jellybean,” Alice insisted, as she peeled Jellybean off of him and took their food off his hands. “I want to hear all about it.” 

 

FP would have drawn out getting changed from his uniform and into pajamas had his own words not begun to mock him the second he thought about it. He cursed himself inwardly for even  _ telling _ Jellybean that she was going to be the baby’s full sister regardless of biology -- at the time he had meant  _ Alice’s _ biology, not the fact that he was jack shit to her except as a  _ bullshit _ signature on a birth certificate and that  _ fucking _ name that Gladys had saddled her with -- but the damage would have been done with the relationship Alice wanted to forge with his...whatever she was to him, fuck it, his daughter, and he couldn’t ruin that, and Jellybean’s relationship with the baby, and ensure that she start hating him again, all in one fell swoop. No. It was better for him to suffer in silence while she stabbed daggers into his heart when she called him dad and hugged him and even thought she was the baby’s fucking sister at all. 

 

But, Alice was right. Jellybean deserved better than being Hal’s daughter, even if the better that Jellybean was stuck with was him. At least he wasn’t the reason the house was known as the murder house on Elm Street. 

 

He just.

 

He knew it was stupid.

 

It just sucked. Not just because he hadn’t been told. He would have done right by Jellybean and not let Hal Cooper get his hands on her. But Jellybean had practically been screwed out of a damn inheritance because Gladys had fucked around on him and not told him. 

 

He knew (having had retrieved Betty’s money from that ridiculous farm) that the inheritance was sizeable. 

 

Jellybean -- she deserved that. She deserved it. Even if it meant that she wasn’t his. That money meant that she could go to college, do things that he couldn’t do. Things he’d wanted to do.

 

He sighed, gritted his teeth, and put on one of the shirts that he and Jellybean had tie dyed together one summer before she left, when he was playing at sober and wanted to do something special with his little girl. He rarely wore them (they made him too sad), but, today he would. Maybe Alice was right when she said all those nice things about him still being Jellybean’s father. He wasn’t sure. 

 

He desperately needed a smoke. 

 

He wanted a drink, but he didn’t do that anymore. He couldn’t. He didn’t want to ruin the kids lives again, especially since it wasn’t just his kids anymore, it was Betty, and the baby that was on the way. He wondered if it  _ was  _ twins. Maybe Jellybean was right. He really didn’t know. 

 

Still. He was tired of thinking about that damn paper. 

 

He drew in a deep breath and steeled himself to go downstairs.

 

Jellybean and Alice had set themselves up on the living room couch, the food spread out on the table in front of them, and he noticed that they’d left the spot in the middle open, clearly for him. 

 

“Hey,” he said, simply, and he sat down between them, pressing a kiss to Alice’s lips, and a kiss to Jellybean’s cheek. “What were my two favorite girls talking about?”

 

“I was just telling Jellybean about when you convinced Jughead to let you bring her to school for show and tell,” Alice told him, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “She was a very good member of the class that day, as I recall. Much better behaved than certain people we know.” 

 

“Was I really that special to you?” Jellybean asked, and she glanced up at him. 

 

“Yeah, Jelly, of course you were,” he told her. He wasn’t going to lie. She was special to him. “Got Alice to write about you in the paper, even.” 

 

“You did? Why? Why would you write about me?” 

 

Jellybean had taken it upon herself to cuddle close to him, as she devoured her burger, and he looped an arm around her shoulders. He brushed a kiss to her forehead, before he took a bite of his meal. 

 

“Your father told me that he wanted to see if I could write an article about something nice about the Southside,” Alice told her. “I was the room mother in Elizabeth’s classroom so I was there when your father brought you in to meet everyone, and he wanted me to meet you as well. You were very well behaved,” she said. “I thought you were sweet, he asked me nicely, I figured why not.” 

 

“I was excited about my daughter,” he said. “I’d been waiting for you for a long time, Jelly.” There had never been a good enough time for Gladys, until suddenly she was insistent that they needed to try for a baby and then suddenly she was pregnant and he’d been a  _ dumbass _ and accepted things as they were -- but what could he do? Regret that? He knew how Hal treated children that he’d wanted, that were of his marriage, and he  _ hated _ how Hal treated them. He would have never wanted that for his Jellybean. “And you are something good that came out of the Southside,” he said. “You and your brother are the best of any of us.”

 

“And the baby,” she added. “Do you really think that the baby will like me?”

 

Her eyes were filled with worry. “Hell, Jell, of course she will,” he said. “He...or she...they’re gonna love you.”

 

“I think that they love you already,” Alice told her. 

  
  


***

  
  


“Where did you get this shirt?” Alice questioned, as she snuggled up in bed beside FP, and she tugged on the hem of his t-shirt, an inquisitive gaze on her face. “Honey?” 

 

“Jellybean and I, we tie dyed them the summer before she left,” he said. “Thought it seemed right to wear it.” 

 

“Oh, I think it’s cute,” she whispered. It really was sweet that he’d kept the shirt that he and Jellybean had tie dyed before she’d moved to Toledo, even with moving house. She couldn’t wait until he was able to do things like that with the little one that they had on the way. “Are you feeling better?”

 

“A little bit,” he said. “I just--I want to be okay with it, but I just want to punch him out.” 

 

“I’d find this to be an acceptable use of your time,” she said, her tone encouraging. Was it wrong to encourage FP to go down to the prison and punch Hal out? Probably, but that was what he got for strangling her and for cheating on her and being dumb enough not to use protection. “I will not dissuade you from punching out Harold. What he and Gladys did to you was wrong.” 

 

“They did it to you, too,” he said, as she laid her head on his chest. “Fuck them both, is how I feel.” He snorted. “Oh, wait, we kind of did.” 

 

She smiled up at him as she felt him thread his fingers through her hair, content to lay in his arms. She was almost prenaturally exhausted these days. Normally, Alice required prescription sedatives to stay and remain asleep, but the little one that was inside of her zapped enough of her energy to make her feel normal, especially when combined with her food aversions and her  _ incredibly _ sore breasts. Every part of her body was sensitive nowadays. 

 

But, that night, the burgers and fries with her boyfriend and his daughter, being taken up to his room like she was a queen? It had been enough to make Alice feel immensely better. The house has changed since she lived there -- the rooms are familiar but not at the same time -- and FP had made a concentrated effort to redo the master suite, which she really did appreciate. 

 

“I like what you’ve done to this place,” she said, and she smiled up at him. “You did this on your own? How did you even have time?”   
  


“Fred’s been helping me,” he said. “Told him that I needed a nice place for you to come back to, you know, when you were ready.” 

 

“That was nice of him,” she whispered. “I’ll have to thank him. Maybe I’ll bake him a cake.” 

 

“It’s good for him,” he insisted. “Keeps him busy.”

 

She laughed. “Are you telling me that you think Fred needs to be kept busy?”  

 

“When I got out of jail,” he said, as he traced his fingers down her sides, his tone low. Jellybean was soundly asleep (Alice had checked), but she supposed that she couldn’t blame him. “I tried to go to the old AA meetings at the church. They don’t have them anymore. So I asked Fred if he would be my sponsor. He agreed, as long as I was his. I guess he started having trouble with pills after his shooting.” 

 

“I didn’t realize,” she admitted, as she practically purred as he started massaging her sides and her abdomen. FP was always adept at using his hands. “Is that why you asked me if you could tell him about our little gummy bear?”    
  


“Yeah, but, Alice, he’ll keep it a secret. I promise.” 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Let’s face it, Al, we both know I’m not anyone’s first choice for anything.”

“Where are you going?” Alice asked tiredly, as she felt FP pull away from her. She had fallen asleep in his arms the night before, and she was disappointed in their sudden lack of contact. “Is everything all right? Did something happen?” 

 

“I have to get up to make sure Jellybean is ready for school,” he said. “Don’t worry about it, Al. You can go back to sleep.” 

 

“No, I’ll get up with you,” she said. “We should head over to the trailer at some point and get my things, yeah?” 

 

“Yeah, whenever you want.” He kissed her softly. “Can’t wait to spend every morning for the rest of my life waking up in bed beside you.” He ran his hands down her sides. “How are you feeling?” 

 

“Pregnant,” she told him, and she kissed him again. “Seriously, though? I’m okay. A little nauseated, but, that’s normal.” 

 

“That means that the baby’s okay, right?” 

 

“Yeah, it does,” she confirmed. “You want me to get Jellybean up and ready for school? You could have a lie in?” 

 

“It’s okay, Alice,” he sighed. “It’s just a test. I can pretend nothing’s changed. Like you said, not like it’s anything different than it ever was. Same old bullshit, I just now have the privilege of knowing my whole life has been a damn lie. She’s stuck with me because her biological parents are both in jail, and, it’s whatever. Kid’s screwed either way.” 

 

“You don’t mean that.”

 

“Let’s face it, Al, we both know I’m not anyone’s first choice for anything.”

 

“You’re not your father, FP. You’re a good man. You’re a good dad. You’re a good dad to Jughead and Jellybean, and you always have been. Even when you had issues, you always tried. You put them first. That’s a real man, that’s a real father.” 

 

“Can we rip it up?” 

 

“We can burn it,” she whispered, and she squeezed his hands in hers. “We can burn the check, too, if you want.” It was a lot money, but, well, Alice was willing to allow FP to make foolish choices with it, just as she’d done with Betty’s. “Whatever it will take for you to feel better about this.” 

 

“I don’t want you to burn the check,” he said, after a moment. “I don’t want her to not get that money. I may not like that she’s getting it, but -- she’s my kid, Al. She’s so fucking smart and she deserves to be able to use that money to do things, to make something of herself. I don’t want to get rid of the money and fuck her over out of spite.” 

 

“I know. I’m so sorry. If I had had any idea that he had done that. Any idea at all. I would have told you, maybe things would have been different. But I think about how he treated me, how he treated my girls, and I don’t want that for her. She deserves better, she deserves you, you are better than that, better than him. I know that it’s hard for you to believe, Jonesy, but, it’s true.” 

 

“You know that I won’t let him hurt you again, right?” FP asked, as he cupped her chin in his hands. “You and Betty, you don’t have to worry about him, he’s not your problem anymore. He wouldn’t be your problem even if he was out of jail, you hear me? Betty’s not my daughter, not by blood, at least, but she’s as good as. And you, Al, you’re the love of my life.” 

 

“I love you, too, Jonesy.” She pressed her lips to his, and she deepened the kiss momentarily, not wanting to get herself too hot and bothered when they had things to do and couldn’t finish what they’d started. “I’m excited to be a family with you, and our children. All our children.” 

 

“What are you guys doing?” 

 

Alice recovered herself, and she peered in the direction of the door, identifying the source of the question as Jellybean herself, who stood in the entrance to the room, looking entirely unawake. 

 

“We’re just talking, honey,” she settled on, and she patted the spot on the bed beside her. “Did you want to come cuddle with us for a little bit? I don’t mind.” 

 

“Does Daddy?” 

 

“No, I don’t mind,” he said. “Alice and I were just talking about the baby and stuff.” 

 

“Can I really go with you guys? Tomorrow? When you go to the baby doctor?”   
  


FP nodded. “Come ‘ere, JB,” he said, and he opened up his arms. Alice was surprised when, instead of giving him a hug, she curled up onto his lap, but she smiled at the sight. “You can be as involved with the little one that’s on the way as you want to be.” 

 

“I want to be,” she insisted. “I’m not a kid, Dad. I can help out.” 

 

“I’d be really happy if you came,” she told her. “There’s really not much for you to help out with, yet, though.” 

 

“Why not?” 

 

“I’m only very newly pregnant, JB,” she tried to explain. “So I can still do most of the stuff I’ve always done. It’s when the baby gets bigger and I get further along that I’ll need help more, and more, you know? Right now all the baby is really doing is making me exhausted almost constantly, and giving me some weird cravings and food aversions. And, you know, making me feel miserable whenever I have my morning sickness.” 

 

“You don’t feel well?” The concern on her face was evident. “And you’ve been all alone in the trailer? That’s so sad.” 

 

“I haven’t been alone,” she protested. “Elizabeth has been there. And your father, he’s helped a lot. It’s not like I’m not used to it.” 

 

“But you’re staying here, now, right? With us? So you don’t have to be alone?” 

 

“Yeah, JB, she’s staying here with us,” FP said. “Today, Alice and I, we’re gonna go to the trailer and pack up all her things, so that she can move in with us, okay? And then Jugs and Betty will be here all the time?”   
  


“Can I go with you?” 

 

“You have school, Jellybelly.”

 

“I know, but this is something that I can do to help her and the baby. Please, Daddy?” 

 

“You really want to help?” She nodded. “Okay, fine, so long as it’s all right with Alice. You have to ask her, JB, she might want it to be just the two of us.” 

 

“Can I go with you guys?” JB asked her, her eyes wide with hope, and Alice found herself nodding, not seeing the harm in a little extra help. “I’ll even go back to school after.”

 

“Nah, JB,” FP said quietly. “That’s okay. I’ll call you out and we can all get some extra sleep. I think that you and Alice are both growing girls that need your rest.” 

 

“You think it’s a girl?” 

 

“I haven’t really thought much about what the baby might be,” he told her. “Honest, JB, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around being a father again, I just want Alice and the baby to be happy and healthy. I know that that’s lame, but, it’s the truth.” 

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Is it within the parameters of my job to punch him out?”

“It’s not lame,” Jellybean said softly, as she helped her father box up the dishes that were in the trailer’s cabinets, and she rolled her eyes at the look he gave her. “What you said earlier, about the baby, and stuff.”   
  


“Yeah, it’s lame,” he muttered. “Must be getting soft in my old age.”

 

“It’s okay to have feelings, Dad,” she said. “Amazingly enough, Alice and I don’t mind you having them. And, you’re not old.”

 

“Tell that to my shoulder. Feels pretty damn old to me.”

 

“What do you think that the baby will be like?” Jellybean had to admit that she was curious about the baby that her dad and Alice were expecting. “Do you think she’ll look like me?”

 

“What do you think, Jellybelly?” 

 

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Maybe. But maybe she’ll look like you and Alice, like how I look like Mom. Or maybe it will be a boy?”

 

“Yeah, kid, maybe it will be a boy,” he agreed. “That’d be kind of cool, right? A little brother?” JB had long since decided that grownups were weird, and she didn’t have the energy to see how weird Dad would get. “You know that you and your brother--”

 

“I know, Dad, don’t worry about it. You can’t help that things are different now. I’m glad you got sober.” 

 

“You’re really not upset that I couldn’t do it before?” 

 

“Daddy, no,” she whispered, and she crossed the room and gave him a hug. “I’m not upset about it, I was upset because Mom told me that you wanted Jughead and didn’t want me, and that that was why she took me with her.” 

 

“That’s not true, JB, none of that is. I wanted you so badly, I wanted her to bring you back, she never would. The things that your mother told you, whatever she told you, those were lies, Jellybean. You’re my daughter, and I will always want you around. I would never pick your brother over you, or the baby that Alice and I are having together. I don’t want to choose favorites, Jellybean. I never have, and I never will.”

 

“You promise?” 

 

He kissed her on her forehead. “Yeah, princess, I promise. Don’t worry about me, or about our relationship, you’re my little girl, and you will always be my little girl. Nothing will ever change that.” 

 

“Okay,” she whispered. “I believe you.” Alice entered the room, a box in her arms, and Jellybean scowled at the sight. Hadn’t she told Alice that she didn’t have to be lifting anything? “Why didn’t you ask for help?” She demanded. “I want to be able to help you.” 

 

“Jellybelly, it’s all right,” he told her. “I know you want to help Al, but, it’s okay. She can carry some things.” 

 

“You want to help me go through my clothes?” Alice offered. “I don’t think that your dad will enjoy that very much, do you?”

 

Jellybean wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think he’d enjoy it very much, either,” she agreed. “I’ll come help you.” 

 

“Thank you, sweetie.” Alice crossed the room and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “You don’t mind me borrowing JB, do you?”

 

“Of course not,” he said. “You’re my girls. I’m glad you want to spend time together.” 

 

Jellybean followed Alice into the bedroom, and she sat on the edge of the bed, eying her with cautious eyes as she opened the drawers of the dresser. She didn’t really notice much of a change in the blonde, at least, if she acknowledged the fact that she no longer reeked of incense. There certainly wasn’t any real sign of a baby yet. That disappointed JB. She knew that the baby was too little to do much but she didn’t understand why there wasn’t a sign of its existence. 

 

“How far along do you think you are?” 

 

“I think about eight weeks,” she murmured, and her hand went to her stomach. “Maybe a little more.” 

 

“Do you love my dad?” 

 

“With my entire heart,” she whispered. “Honey, I know that your mother hurt your dad, but I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t ever act like she did.” 

 

“Do you think the baby loves him?” 

 

Alice nodded. “I do. Would you like to feel? There isn’t anything to feel yet, not really, but I thought maybe--”

 

“Yes, can I? I want to say hi to the baby. Are you showing at all?”

 

“Not much,” she said, and she sat down beside her. Jellybean watched as she lifted the hem of her shirt -- well, Jellybean knew it was really her dad’s shirt, she’d seen him wear it before, and she let Alice take her hand and press it down where there was any sign at all of the baby. “What to you think?”

 

“I can’t wait to see it tomorrow,” she breathed. “When is your appointment?”

 

“After you get out of school,” she said. “Your dad and I, we’ll pick you up. You’ll get to hear the baby’s heartbeat, too.”   
  


“They can do that?”   
  


“Yeah, honey, they can.”

  
  


***

  
  


“Mr. Jones,” Kevin drawled, as he opened the door, and FP thought that if a person’s tone could kill, Kevin’s would be a good candidate for his death. “Come to ruin my life some more?” 

 

“It’s not my fault you were led into joining that cult, Kevin. I had no choice but to shut it down. For your information, I’m here to see your father.” 

 

Keller’s son rolled his eyes. “Dad! You have company.” 

 

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” 

 

“I don’t know,” he said. “Are you going to let me hang out with Betty again?”

 

“Betty makes her own choices,” he said. “I don’t control her. If she doesn’t want to have your little Saturday night slumber parties anymore, that’s on her, not me. While we’re on the subject though. Betty needed you. She needed a friend. And you just fucked her over.” 

 

“She hated the farm!” Kevin retorted. “It was helping her mother before you had to be the white knight about things you know nothing about.” 

 

“Lay off Alice,” FP growled, his tone low. “If I hear you say another damn thing about her, I swear to you, Kevin, I will put you on my list to further investigate.”

 

“FP,” Tom said, coming into the entranceway, and he managed to affect a friendly smile. “I would say come in, but maybe we shouldn’t.”   
  


“I can take you on a ride along,” he offered. He didn’t want to have Kevin overhearing anything that he was going to say out loud. He didn’t want Jellybean to know about her father. He’d thought about telling her in the trailer, but he’d decided against it. What good would it have done? “I need some advice on something.”

 

“Of course.” 

 

“I don’t want this getting out,” he said, as they sat in the car. “You can’t tell anyone what I’m telling you here. I don’t care about me, but I don’t want anyone to know, because it will hurt her. She already thinks that she’s going to be replaced when the baby comes -- I don’t ever want her to feel like finding out has made me feel.”

 

FP lit up a cigarette. He suspected he really wasn’t supposed to smoke in his vehicle, but he really didn’t give a damn. He had been itching for one since he’d discovered the news. 

 

“What’s the matter?” Tom asked. “Is it Alice?”   
  


“No, it’s not Alice,” he muttered. “She’s taking what happened better than me. Seemed pretty damn unsurprised.”

 

He sighed. “I was so stupid.” 

 

“That really does not narrow it down, FP.” 

 

“I had asked Gladys for  _ years _ if we could give Jughead a younger sibling. The boy wanted one. It was never the right time, not ever, and then suddenly she wanted to and then -- bam -- there was Jellybean. I was a little suspicious when she was premature and the size of a damn newborn baby, but she was a Jones. It made sense that she was bigger than average. She was so beautiful and no, she didn’t look like me, but Gladys told me that girls took after their mothers, and it seemed like something that made sense.” 

 

He finished the cigarette and lit another, taking a healthy drag before continuing. “Until, you know, I took the blood test with Alice to make sure that the baby she’s pregnant with was mine, and not some person from that cult that took advantage of her in that brainwashed state she was in. I don’t know what possessed me to test JB, I wish that I hadn’t. It’s just that we’re living in Alice’s house and there were some old pictures behind of when the kids were younger, and--she looks like Polly did. I had to know.”   
  


“Except now I know, and she’s not mine, she’s that rat bastard Cooper’s. Eleven damned years I’ve spent thinking that I was her father, that I meant  _ anything _ to her, that just because we didn’t look alike didn’t mean that I wasn’t her dad. And I’m  _ not _ her dad. Alice says that the DNA test doesn’t matter, but it does. She’s fucked because her choices for father are me or that asshole, and that bitch had been telling her that I didn’t want her anyways, and I think that she believes her. I did want her, Tom. So much. I was the one who’d wanted her.” 

 

“I think that Alice is right,” he said. “It would be one thing if Hal was...perhaps not our town’s terrorizing serial killer? I don’t--what good would telling her do? It’s not like knowing that he’s her biological father changes anything in her life. She can’t go live with him, and she can’t go back to live with her mother. I just -- I think it would do more harm than good. Not just to your relationship, but to her relationship with Alice, and with Betty. You want them to have a relationship, right?”

 

“Of course. They’re going to be a family someday. Not sure when, exactly, but I’d like for it to be legal at some point.” He sighed. “And I don’t want what Hal did to be on her. If I could take it away from Betty and Alice, I would. Instead it’s more of the same fucking shit, day in, and day out. I swear I have to leave my patrol car parked in front of the house to get the onlookers to not keep taking photos, or asking Fred and Mary if the murder house offers tours.” 

 

“Please tell me he’s saying no,” Tom begged. 

 

“As far as I know, he is. But you know Fred. He wouldn’t get why I don’t want her to know, why I think that that being public knowledge would just hurt her. Would hurt our family. Fred doesn’t live that sort of life, so he doesn’t realize the reality of it. It’s amazing that he still doesn’t see the world for how it is, but I certainly don’t want to take his delusions away from him.” 

 

“That does seem like it would be cruel.”

 

“This world is shit enough. I can’t bring myself to drag him down too.” 

 

“You really didn’t know?” Tom asked. 

 

“Of course I knew,” he admitted. “I’m stupid, Tom, but I’m not that dumb. I mean, I didn’t really at first, but then I started getting suspicious. Asked a couple times before she moved to Toledo, you know, when I was really hammered? Then she left and I thought I would never see my daughter again. I never really cared that she wasn’t mine biologically. She was my Jellybelly. We were close. I want to be close to her again. I like that she’s excited about the baby. She’s gotten it in her head that Alice is having twins.” He chuckled. “I know if I tell her that all of that goes away. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but I don’t want it to. I love her too much to tell her out of spite, or whatever telling her would entail.” He sighed. “She’s my kid. She’ll always be my kid. And I bet it would really piss Cooper off that she got that check from the Blossoms.” 

 

He smirked. “Is it within the parameters of my job to punch him out?”

  
  



	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Your mother thought a lot of things, JB,” he said.

“Can I go for a ride in your patrol car???” Jellybean asked FP, her eyes wide with amusement, and Alice smiled softly at the sight, busying herself making breakfast. “Can we go to the appointment in the patrol car? Why are you cooking, Alice? You should be resting.”

 

“I--”   
  


“Yeah, babe, don’t worry about it,” FP interjected, and he came up behind her and gave her a kiss. “I’ve got breakfast, why don’t you and JB just sit together?”

 

“Well, all right,” Alice agreed. “How can I resist a handsome man offering to cook me and his daughter breakfast?” 

 

“You can’t,” he said. “And, yeah, Jelly, I’ll bring you to school in the patrol car, I don’t know about the appointment, though. We might not all fit in it. I can bring us in the truck, though, or Alice’s station wagon.” 

 

“Okay.” Jellybean sat down at the table, and Alice followed. She supposed there was nothing wrong with resting, even though she really wasn’t a fan. If it made Jellybean happy and distracted her from FP’s occasional bouts of awkwardness, Alice considered it to be a job well done. “What are you going to do while I’m at school, and Dad’s at work?”   
  


“I’m...I don’t know, JB, I guess I’ll work, too,” she sighed. It was unpleasant to think about. “There has to be some paper looking for freelance writers.” 

 

“You’re not gonna be on the TV anymore?” 

 

“They didn’t want me to remain on their staff after the news that I was a cult member broke out,” Alice said, her tone light. “It’s all right, JB. I didn’t think that it was going to last forever.” 

 

“That’s lame,” she said. “Sounds like they suck.” 

 

“Don’t talk like that, JB,” FP interjected. “I don’t care how your mother raised you.”

 

“She said I was old enough to raise myself.” 

 

“I have news for you. You’re not.” 

 

“Your mother said that to you?” Alice was frankly appalled. “Why on earth did she say something like that to you?”

 

“Because I’m in middle school now,” Jellybean said, her tone making it clear that she thought Alice was asking ridiculous questions. “Why do you think? Less time spent raising me meant more time running her chopshop and dealing drugs, and trying to ruin Dad and Jughead’s lives by dragging me back with her here.” 

 

“It didn’t ruin my life,” FP muttered. “You being in my life -- it does not ruin it, Jellybelly. It never has.”

 

“Still doesn’t change the fact that Mom thought it would.” 

 

“Your mother thought a lot of things, JB,” he said. “She thought a lot of things that I will never understand, that I don’t  _ ever _ want to understand. I just want you to know that I don’t feel that way, okay? You’re my daughter and I like having you here. No matter what she thought.”

 

“I know, Daddy.” She smiled at him. “What about you, Alice?” 

 

“Of course I like having you around,” she assured her. “You’re FP’s daughter. I want you here, so you can be with your dad, and your brother, and get to know this little one that’s on the way.” She patted her belly. “You’re excited for today?” 

 

Jellybean nodded. “Yes, I want to make sure that the baby is okay,” she informed her. “Do you think everything’s fine?”

 

“I think so. You really worry, JB?” 

 

“Yeah, I mean, Dad spends so much time with you and he says it’s because he loves you and you’re having his baby…I just want to make sure that things are okay with her, or him. And with you. I know he worries about you even though he doesn’t like to admit it.” 

 

“Your dad’s a good guy.” 

 

“You really think I’m a good guy, Alice?” 

 

“Of course,” she said. “You think that Hal ever cooked a meal for me?” 

 

“Hal did a lot of things he shouldn’t have done.”

 

“Like what?” Jellybean asked.

 

“Don’t worry about it, Jellybelly,” he said. “He’s not going to have a damn thing to do with anyone, you hear me? Not Alice, not Betty, not anyone. He’s in jail, and he’s gonna stay in jail.” 

 

“Was he bad, like Mom?” 

 

“He was worse,” FP said. “It’s okay, though. Alice and Betty are better off without him.”   
  


“Yeah, cause they’ve got you.” 

 

“She’s not wrong,” Alice told him. “You really have made a difference, honey. Do you need me to help you?”   
  


“Nah, babe, I’ve got it,” he said. “You and Jellybean don’t have to help me.” 

 

“Are Jughead and Betty coming to your baby doctor appointment?” Jellybean asked. 

 

“No, sweetie, not this time. Just you. Are you okay with that?” 

 

“It makes me feel special.” 

 

“All right, girls,” FP said, and he slid a plate of food in front of her, and JB, and he sat down beside her, and dug into the food. “Eat up, you don’t want to be late for school, Jells.”

 

“I don’t want to go to school at all,” she corrected. “School’s lame.”

 

“You’re going to school, Jellybelly.” 

  
  


***

  
  


“I didn’t know that Alice was back next door,” Mary Andrews mused, as she observed the scene that was playing out in the driveway of the house next door, bemused by the entire thing. “Are she and FP...actually dating, Fred?” 

 

Either FP and Alice were dating, or Alice had decided that a friendly greeting had been expanded to include heavy petting, and Mary hoped that it was the former, and not the latter. She had heard about Alice’s slide into the hands of a cult after Hal had tried to kill her, and she was a bit afraid that the overaffection could be a sign that she hadn’t been entirely deconditioned. 

 

“What, Mary?” Fred asked, as he entered the room and joined her at the window. “Oh, them? They’ve been at it like bunnies for months. I think they stopped when Gladys came back and FP tried to make it work with her, but I’m not surprised that they’re together now.”

 

“You didn’t mention this to me.”

 

“I figured you’d seen them,” he said. “They’re kind of obvious.”   
  


Mary had never much liked Alice -- she could have possibly gotten past the petty grudges of childhood had Alice and Hal not been unbelievably overbearing to live with as next door neighbors -- but she had to admit that she was seeing something she had never seen in the blonde woman: what appeared to be actual happiness. The proof that Alice owned pajamas and was willing to be seen outside of the house in them was another shocker, but the happiness was something that she’d been certain Alice wasn’t capable of. 

 

At least she hadn’t been while she was married to Hal. 

 

“I haven’t seen Alice at all,” she said, her hands on her hips. “FP keeps brushing off my attempts to get him to come over for dinner because he has to do ‘community integration’ over in the trailer park, whatever that means.”

 

“He’s...integrating himself into Alice’s community,” Fred explained, a smile on his face. “I’m sure that they’ll be willing to come over for dinner soon.” 

 

“I thought it was a program he was doing as a Sheriff!”   
  


“Well, I don’t think that Alice  _ minds _ him doing it like that.” He waggled his brows. “Look, I say let them be happy. I don’t think either of them thrive on being alone.” 

 

“I just don’t want FP getting hurt.” 

 

“Sometimes these things take time, Mary,” Fred said. “Look at us. Separated for years and then giving things another go?”

 

“That’s true.”

 

“Look, I know you and Alice don’t really get along,” he added. “I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world to try to start fresh. Maybe things will be different now.”

 

“I suppose it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we were friends,” she mused. “Okay, Fred. I’ll try.” 

 

Mary waited until the patrol car had peeled out of the driveway, and Alice had retreated back into the house, to decide that it would be the neighborly thing to do to visit the recently returned resident of the house next door. She and Alice hadn’t really spoken much since Hal had been arrested, anyways, she supposed that a conversation of any sort was past due. Part of that was due to her living in Chicago, but the other part was due to her finding Alice to be a rather taxing person to deal with. Still, Fred and FP were best friends. It was at least a good idea to try with Alice, rather than write the blonde off entirely. 

 

She rang the doorbell, unsure of what Alice’s reaction to seeing her would be, and she waited. 

 

“Mary Andrews,” Alice drawled. “What are you doing here?” 

 

“I thought I would come by and say hello,” Mary said. “Since we’re going to be neighbors again, and since you’re dating Fred’s best friend.” 

 

“Hello. I guess you can come in if you want.”

 

“Don’t you think we should put the past aside? Fred and FP have.”

 

“Fred and FP are better people than we are. You know that as well as I do.” Alice sighed. “I suppose. For FP’s sake. I will.” 

 

“And I will for Fred’s.” 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Yeah, I’m pregnant. I don’t...I don’t expect FP to keep it a secret. It’s just...very new, so we’re not exactly telling the entire world about it, you know? I just want to make sure that everything is okay with me, and, of course, the baby, before I take out a full page ad for an announcement or something.”

“Are you going to come in? Or are you just going to stand there?” Alice had to admit that she was exhausted. She didn’t have the energy to pointlessly fight with Mary over what she was fairly certain was childhood grudges that Hal had nurtured well past their expiration dates due to his childish needs. “You can come in if you want. I can’t exactly say I’m doing anything right now.” 

 

“What an invitation.”   
  


“Look, I’m not going to stand here and pretend we’re friends, Mary. I said I was willing to try for FP and Fred. Do you want to come in or not?”

 

“Yeah, okay,” she said. “I’ll come in. You don’t have to get ready for work?” 

 

Alice scoffed. “Work? What work? I told JB that I was going to try to find a paper to freelance to. I don’t see that happening, do you? Either my reputation from the Register precedes me, or my reputation from my decision to follow in my idiot teenager’s footsteps and join a cult precedes me, and neither choice particularly screams ‘hire me’.” She sighed. “Add in the fact that I exclusively worked for my ex-husband, who is currently rotting in jail, and we see that makes me unemployable, yes?”

 

“They won’t let you work at the Ledger?”

 

“I don’t want to,” she muttered. “It was my paper. I don’t want to be some  _ pawn _ to the Lodges just because Hal decided the only fucking thing in Riverdale that was  _ mine _ was just something that he could throw away because Hiram flashed a blank check at him and money was more important than his wife of 25 years.” 

 

“You really think that’s the only thing in Riverdale that’s yours?”

 

“Oh, don’t pretend to be so shocked,” Alice snapped. “You know as well as I do what my marriage was like. Do you really think I was allowed anything of my own that I could be proud of? That wasn’t under his control? The Register was the closest thing, Mary, and now it’s gone, and I’m stuck living off bank accounts and praying that FP doesn’t lose his job as the Sheriff because if he  _ does _ we are going to be so fucked.” 

 

“Wait...what do you mean, wife of 25 years? Alice, we graduated from high school 25 years ago.” 

 

“You don’t think I don’t know that? He made me give up my baby and then he made me marry him. It was the proper thing to do. If I hadn’t have agreed the Coopers wouldn’t have paid for my say at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. The baby was already gone, I had no other choice. What could I have done? Gone crawling back to the Serpents and explained that I had had the King’s grandchild and given him up? Ruined FP’s life by not even giving him the  _ chance  _ to see if he would have been a good father to the baby?” She sniffled. “I made a lot of mistakes, Mary. I regret them.” 

 

“I didn’t realize,” she admitted. 

 

“How would you have? It’s not like I was proud of it.” 

 

“Why don’t you talk to Fred?” Mary suggested. “He might have a job for you.”

 

“I can’t work construction! Are you insane?” 

 

“I wasn’t suggesting that he would offer you a construction job,” Mary insisted. “I was thinking maybe he could use you to fill that bookkeeping position that’s still open.” 

 

“I thought he filled that,” she muttered. “With the wonder that is Hermione Lodge.” 

 

“The Lodges are no longer involved in Andrews Construction,” she told her. “I’ve been doing the bookkeeping remotely, but…”

 

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll talk to Fred. I don’t think that sitting in this house doing nothing will do me any good.” 

 

Fred was her friend, Alice forced herself to remember, as she forced herself to look Mary in the eyes. There was nothing wrong with allowing herself a bit of humility and asking Fred for help, even though she rejected the prospect of working at a construction site with every part of her being. She didn’t have the energy to go through the pointlessness of applying for jobs that would either go nowhere or end with her having awkward conversations about the fact that she was expecting a baby and would need to be out on maternity leave sooner rather than later. She knew what people thought of her. That she was a person who was incapable of making choices that were in any way decent for anyone. 

 

And FP had already told him about the baby, sparing her an awkward conversation. 

 

“I can talk to him, if you want.” 

 

“No, Mary, it’s fine,” she sighed. “I’m a full grown adult. I can speak to the person who I’ve lived next door to the greater part of my life.” 

 

“Why don’t you stop by this afternoon?”

 

“I can’t, I have an appointment to check on the baby.” 

 

“Baby?” 

 

“Fred didn’t tell you?” Alice tried to hide her surprise. “FP told him.” 

 

“You’re pregnant? No, he didn’t say anything. He must have thought it was meant to be a secret.” 

 

“Yeah, I’m pregnant. I don’t...I don’t expect FP to keep it a secret. It’s just...very new, so we’re not exactly telling the entire world about it, you know? I just want to make sure that everything is okay with me, and, of course, the baby, before I take out a full page ad for an announcement or something.”

 

“Of course, Alice, I figured that.”

 

“It’s part of the reason why I moved back,” she admitted. “It seemed unfair on FP to force him to visit his old trailer to see me, and do things for me and the baby.” She placed a hand on her abdomen. “To be honest, I hate it here. I don’t want to take the house on Elm Street away from him, or the kids. They deserve it, and it’s all that FP ever wanted. Having a family and living on Elm Street and being a Northsider and being able to provide for his family how they deserve.” She shook her head. “I just wish that Gladys had bought him another house. And that my dining room didn’t have a pool table housed in it.” She sighed. 

 

“I’m sure that the guys would renovate the house for you, if you asked them to.”

 

“Yeah, maybe,” she shrugged. “I’ll see how my appointment goes. If it doesn’t go well I’m going back to the trailer.” 

 

“How do you think it will go? Are you feeling all right?”

 

“I’m feeling perfect,” she admitted. “Nauseous as all hell, and I’m bloated beyond belief, but I think that that means that everything’s good with the baby. I hope so, at least. I want this to go well. I want to have a family with him. Even if it means that I’m stuck living here.” It was the truth. Alice hated the thought of having to live in the same house that she had almost been murdered in, but the thought of being able to be a proper family with FP did make up for her decided lack of desire to resume living there. It was for the best for the baby to have two active, involved, parents, and it was absolutely ridiculous on her part to insist that FP travel across the city to see her and be involved in the pregnancy. “JB likes living in a house, anyways. Who would I be to make her leave the only house she’s ever lived in because I was scared? I couldn’t do that.” She shook her head. “So, yeah, I’ll talk to Fred. Maybe I’ll stop by before my appointment.” 

 

“He’s still at home,” Mary pointed out. “You could just go over now.” 

 

“Dressed like this? I don’t think so. I may have completely lost my sense of pride, Mary, but I would  _ never _ beg for a job in my pajamas.” 

 

“Obviously I meant you could get changed first,” she said. “I just meant instead of going to the construction site.”

 

“Oh. Yes. That makes more sense. Can you tell him I’ll be over soon?”

 

“Of course.” 

 

“Thanks, Mary.” 

 

Alice decided that she would trust her neighborly visitor to vacate the premises on her own, and she headed up to the room that she shared with FP, eying the bed longingly as she entered the room. When Alice had told FP that she was pregnant with their baby, he had insisted on taking her with him to a furniture showroom (she had mainly tagged along with him because she feared that he would have been taken for a ride due to the combination of his excitement of being able to afford things and unscrupulous salespeople) and he had let her pick out a new bed and mattress, citing a desire for her to feel comfortable if she ever wanted to spend the night with him, but making it clear that he didn’t expect her to move back in with him. 

 

Crawling back into bed was tempting.

 

Alice was tired of hiding from the world, though, and she really didn’t want want to rely on FP for everything. She knew that he didn’t mind -- Alice thought that he enjoyed the fact that he was capable of providing for his (their) family on his salary -- but she knew that she would feel better if she was bringing  _ some _ money in, even if it wasn’t enough to match the Sheriff’s salary. 

 

Plus, Alice had heard rumors that the Lodges were separating. She didn’t trust Fred to learn from his mistakes. It was her neighborly duty to snap the job up before Hermione could steal it back and trap Fred in her spider web of lies. 

 

It was that (her toleration for Fred and the fact that  _ someone _ had to acknowledge that one of his flaws was seeing the good in everyone, regardless of the fact that they had proven multiple times that they were not worthy of such compassion) that led Alice to the closet, and led to her pulling on a skirt and a blouse, cringing slightly at the fact that everything she wore lately accentuated what she was trying to hide. FP seemed to think that she was showing (another thing that horrified Alice), and she had brushed him off (FP knew her body intimately, and had been watching her like a hawk for any changes at all) at the time, but now she was starting to think that he was onto something. 

 

Maybe Jellybean was right. Maybe it was twins. Or maybe she was just showing earlier because she was on her fourth pregnancy. She didn’t really know. 

 

She just wanted everything to be okay with the pregnancy. If Jellybean was right, and it was twins, she would be happy with that. Terrified, but happy.

 

She carefully applied a fresh face of makeup and fixed her hair in an elegant updo, having rationalized that appearances were important for all facets of her daily life, even if it was arranging for her to get a pity job at Fred’s construction company. If she was complacent in how she dressed and appeared, who was to say that the others in her circle wouldn’t decide that was also acceptable? Alice was here to tell them that it was not. 

 

She slipped on the leather jacket that she had co-opted from FP (sure, it was a little big on her, but she didn’t care, it smelled like him and that made her feel better), and she slid on a pair of shoes, allowing herself a glance in the mirror to ensure she looked satisfactory.

 

After ensuring that Hot Dog had food and water in their respective bowls, she procured a copy of her resume and a cover letter, and set off to the house next door. Overkill? Probably. But Alice couldn’t afford to be complacent.

 

The thought of Fred being taken advantage of by Hermione Lodge yet again after all that that family had done to ruin his life (and that of his child’s) was too much for Alice to bear. She might not have been fond of Elizabeth’s relationship with Archibald, but she had never stooped to such levels of pettiness as to have the child arrested for a falsified murder and had a  _ hit _ put out against him. Alice wanted to think that Fred wouldn’t be able to look past such things, but he had proved her wrong over and over about things that she hadn’t expected to be proven wrong for. It was her  _ duty _ as Fred’s friend, and as Elizabeth’s mother, to ensure that Hermione not be allowed to get her claws into Fred, in any sense. Or in Fred’s business. Bad enough that she had ruined hers.

 

And, so, Alice plastered a smile on her face, and rang the doorbell. 

 

“Alice?” Fred stood on the other side of the door, looking vaguely bewildered. “What are you doing here? Is everything okay?” 

 

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “Everything’s fine. I was just wondering if you would hire me. For the bookkeeping position.” 

 

“At the construction company?” 

  
  


***

  
  


Fred had to admit that he was confused by the situation he currently had at hand. He had never thought that Alice would ever be standing in front of him, asking for a job at  _ his _ construction company, and yet, there he was, and there she was, and there they both were. To say it was a bit disconcerting was putting it mildly. 

 

And yet. 

 

Fred knew that he could trust Alice. He knew that she would do the job properly, and without the need for constant supervision, and he knew that he could trust the guys at the site around her, if only because some of them had a healthy fear (or respect) for FP. 

 

The same could  _ not _ be said for Hermione, who had been dropping by his office with increasingly flimsy excuses. When it had become clear that her mayorship was in jeopardy, Hermione had made the decision to resign, which had called for another  _ pointless _ election. Fred had been asked to take over the reigns, but he had refused. He was tired of his family being put through the wringer for what seemed like  _ utter _ pointlessness. 

 

The last time he had tried, Archie had ended up in jail. He couldn’t risk that again.

 

“You’re serious?” 

 

“Look, Fred,” she said. “I know that we haven’t always gotten along. That Harold and I treated you and Archibald terribly for years. That I don’t deserve you offering me this kindness. I just...I can’t sit in that house all day doing nothing while I wait for the baby to come. Just give me a chance, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll quit, no hard feelings.” 

 

“Alice, of course I’ll give you a chance,” he said. “I think we can say that we both made mistakes and that it came out in our interactions with each other, maybe? At least you didn’t help your husband get Archie arrested, never apologize to me for any part of your role in that disaster, and then demand that I hire you back as my bookkeeper because you don’t have half an idea how to function on your million dollar weekly alimony check.” 

 

“That is Hermione for you, Fred,” she sighed. “You knew what she’s like. What she’s always been like. Even when we were kids.” 

 

“She wasn’t like that with me,” he protested.

 

“Wasn’t she?” 

 

“I don’t -- I don’t think she was, Alice.”

 

“May I be frank? I am reasonably certain that Hermione thought you were wealthy in high school, Fred. You lived in this very house, your family owned a company, she was never very bright, I can see why she thought that you were wealthy, especially given the little contact Hermione and the Gomezes had with fiscal solvency.” She shook her head. “You were too kind hearted to see that, though.” 

 

Fred blinked. 

 

“I’m not saying that being kind hearted is a failing, Fred. I’m just saying that you could have been a bit less...in the case of Hermione.” 

 

“I should have let you tell Tom about what Geraldine did to Archie,” he admitted. “You were right, I was wrong, and I should have been man enough to see past my anger at you to recognize that you were right about how the situation should be handled.” 

 

“You should have.” 

 

“Maybe if I had, Hal wouldn’t have done what he did. Maybe the town wouldn’t have gone to hell. Maybe those people wouldn’t be dead.” 

 

“I should have just shot him when I thought he was a burglar,” Alice muttered. “I should have just divorced him when he sold the paper to the Lodges and tried to screw me out of his inheritance. Maybe then he wouldn’t have broken me.” 

 

“You’re not broken, Alice. You made mistakes. We all make mistakes.” 

 

“I know that I made a mistake,” she said. “Mistakes. I just wish that I hadn’t made some of the mistakes that I’ve made. Maybe things would be different then.” 

 

“You can’t know that for sure, Alice.”

 

“No, I can’t,” she agreed. “I’m not upset with how things are. I know that FP told you about the baby,” she added. “I don’t mind if you tell people, but, I appreciate the fact that you kept it a secret. I’m still very nervous about everything.” 

 

“It’s okay, Alice,” he said. “I didn’t mind keeping it a secret. It’s not my place to tell. It’s yours, and FP’s.” 

 

“I’m surprised that JB hasn’t told everyone, to be honest.”   
  


“How is she doing? Is she excited?” 

 

“She seems to be,” Alice said. “I think she’s talking her cues from her father. FP is over the moon about everything, me moving back in, the pregnancy, us being a family. It makes me really happy.”

 

“He loves you, Alice.”

 

“I know,” she told him. “I love him, too. I don’t think I ever stopped.” 

  
  


***

  
  


“How are you feeling about this afternoon?” Alice asked FP, as she perched on the edge of his desk, knowing full well that she was distracting him from whatever work he was doing by her mere presence. She had asked Fred to drop her off at the barracks on the way to the construction site, and he had willingly done so. “It’s just the two of us, honey, you can say whatever it is that you want to.” 

 

“A little better than I was earlier,” he said, as he glanced up from his paperwork. “What’s with the outfit?” 

 

“Oh, this? I coaxed Frederick into hiring me as his bookkeeper,” she said, her tone blithe. “I know that you said that I don’t need to work, but I would feel better with myself if I did.” 

 

“I don’t mind you working with Fred,” FP said. “I didn’t want you busting your ass and trying to get hired by some dick who was only going to see you as someone they could manipulate because you wanted to write for a paper again. I love you, Allie. I would move the earth for you if I could. The least I can do is provide for you so that you don’t have to be exploited.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Fred’s a good guy. He won’t steer you wrong.”

 

“You were afraid that people were going to take advantage of me?” 

 

“Yeah.” He sighed. “I just -- I want to protect you, Alice. I don’t want you to get hurt again. By anyone.” 

 

“Oh, Jonesy,” she whispered, and she reached over and squeezed his hand. “I love you, you know that, right?” 

 

“Love you, too, Al. You want to come join me? My lap’s way more comfortable than that desk.”

 

“You don’t have to ask me twice.” Alice let out a squeak as he pulled her down and onto his lap, her eyes wide with surprise, and she snuggled close to him, and slipped her feet out of her heels. “I’m all about being comfortable.”

 

“You’re wearing my jacket.” She felt him kiss the top of her head, and she shifted her head so she could look at him. “What? It looks good on you.”

 

“It smells like you.” She playfully poked him in his middle. “You’re right, you know. I am showing a bit.” 

 

“Course I’m right. I know every inch of you, Allie,” he said, and she felt him rest his hand on her abdomen. “I think it’s damn awesome that you’re showing. That’s our baby in you, and I’m proud of that. I want everyone to know.”

 

“What if it’s really twins, though? Would you be okay with that?” 

 

“I just want the baby to be healthy,” FP told her. “If there’s more than one, that’s cool with me, so long as they’re doing good, and you’re doing good.” He kissed her softly on the nape of her neck. “It will be okay, Allie. I know it will be.”

 

“How are you feeling about JB?”

 

He sighed. “It’s not her fault that Gladys fucked around on me,” he said. “It’s not her fault that I never pushed harder for a paternity test when I had my suspicions. It’s not her fault that I was dumb enough to believe those lies Gladys told me. At the end of the day being pissed off about it doesn’t help me or her. I don’t want her thinking that I’m mad at her because I’m mad at Gladys. She’s still my daughter.”

 

“That’s part of what makes you a good dad, honey.” 

 

“You think I’m a good dad?” 

 

“Yeah, I think you are,” she assured him. “To JB and Jughead, and the little one on the way, and to Elizabeth as well. I know you’re not her father but I think it’s nice of you to care about her.”

 

“I’d hope to be her stepfather someday, and that you’d be my kids’ stepmom? Maybe? If that’s something you’d be into.”

 

“Are you proposing to me?” 

 

“Nah, Al, I’d do that right,” he said. “You deserve it done right.” 

 

“I was going to say yes,” she admitted. “That’s my answer.”

 

“You’d marry me?” 

“Yeah, of course I’ll marry you,” she said, her eyes soft, as their gaze met. “I’ll marry you whenever the hell you want, honey.” 

 

“Before the baby comes?” 

 

“Yes, but we need to talk to the kids first, make sure they’re okay with it.”

 

“Of course, babe,” he whispered, as he nuzzled her neck. “Al, I’ll wait forever to call you my wife, if that’s what it takes.” 

 

“Hopefully it won’t take that long. I think that we need to go and get Jellybean,” she admitted, rather reluctant to move. FP was soft and warm, and great for cuddling up to, especially in her current state, but she knew that they needed to go home and get a car they could all fit in (she knew they could all technically fit in the patrol car, but it seemed wrong to stick a sixth grader in the back like she was a convict). “And then we get to see what’s going on inside of me.” 

 

“I can’t wait to find out.” 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was clear to FP that the doctor thought Jellybean was the most adorable child she had had the pleasure of encountering, which FP sort of agreed with, in that he thought Jellybean was adorable, but he suspected that Dr. Patel didn’t realize that JB was sizing her up as a potential victim.

“You still want to come, right, JB?” Alice questioned the preteen girl, as she slipped into the truck beside her, allowing Alice to be sandwiched in the middle, FP and JB on either side of her. She suspected that worked nicely for FP, who had taken her new proximity to place his hand on her abdomen. “It’s fine if you don’t, honey. Your dad and I, we’d understand.” 

 

“I want to,” JB said, her tone decisive. “I want to see the draw of what’s convinced Dad to spend all of his time in the trailer, when he’s not wanting my opinion on whether board books are badass or not.”

 

Alice glanced up at FP, and she noted the tips of his ears were red. “You’ve bought the baby board books?”

 

“A couple,” he mumbled. “I couldn’t help myself. They were about snakes.” 

 

“Tell her what they were called, Daddy,” JB insisted. 

 

“No, JB, it’s embarrassing,” he insisted. “Why are the two of you looking at me like that?”   
  


“It’s not embarrassing to buy the baby things, sweetie,” Alice whispered, and she pressed her lips to his. “We’re looking at you like this because we think you’re cute.” 

 

“Okay, I’ll tell you,” he said. “JB already knows, so, I dunno what she gets out of it. Huggy the Python Hugs too Hard, and, uh, The Greedy Serpent, is what they’re called. And when he or she gets bigger, I got ‘em a book called A Snake Mistake. It’s not a board book but I thought they might like it anyways.” 

 

“Oh, that’s so sweet,” she breathed. “I want to see them when we get home.” 

 

He squeezed her knee. “I like the sounda that. When we get home.” 

 

“Me too. You know, you can read to the baby while I’m pregnant,” Alice told him. “It’s good for the baby, and I think that those books will be nice for the baby to hear. You and JB both can, that way the baby will learn to recognize the sound of your voices.” 

 

“Can I read the baby the lame books we have to read at school?” Jellybean asked. 

 

“If you want to,” Alice said. “I don’t mind, I don’t see why the baby will.” 

 

“My mom used to get mad at me,” she said after a moment. “When I lived with her in Toledo and my grandparents made her send me to school. When we still lived with them. She said that I didn’t need to be educated and that she wasn’t gonna help me.” 

 

“I don’t feel that way, JB. You can  _ always _ come to me for help with your schoolwork. And I don’t mind if that just means that you read your assignments to my belly, or to the baby itself, once it comes. And if that means you need more help than that, of course I will help you.” 

 

“I’ll help you, too, kid.”

 

“I know you guys will.” She sighed. “Will we get to see the baby?” 

 

“Yes, and hear the baby’s heartbeat,” Alice told her. “I’m really glad that you wanted to come, sweetie.” 

 

“Me too, Jellybelly,” FP added. “It means a lot to me, you know, that you care about your baby sibling. I know you do.”

 

“I just wish that I could read her all of my old books from when I was little.” 

 

“They’re not at the trailer?” 

 

Jellybean shook her head. “I took them with me when I moved. Mom said that I couldn’t keep them anymore when she saw I had them. She said they were too babyish. Maybe they were, but, now I don’t have any of them to read to the baby.” 

 

FP glanced briefly at Alice. “Why don’t we all go see if we can find them after Alice’s appointment? We could stop at a bookstore? I don’t know where a good one is, but, I bet Alice knows.” 

 

“Of course I do,” she said. “And, of course we can, if that’s something that you’d want, JB.” 

 

“Only if you feel up to it,” Jellybean insisted. “How is the baby doing? Are you feeling okay?” 

 

“For the most part,” Alice said. “Nothing worrisome is happening, though, sweetie. The baby and me, we’re okay. Just some normal, pregnancy, symptoms.”

 

“Do you mind if I say hi?” Jellybean’s tone was bashful, and Alice nodded. She took Jellybean’s hand in hers and settled them on her middle, not wanting to not take advantage of the moment. “The baby’s really in there?” 

 

“Yes, the baby’s really in there.” 

 

“That’s really cool.”

 

“It is, isn’t it?” 

 

The car slowed to a stop. “We’re here.”

  
  


***

  
  


“...and who might this be?” Alice’s doctor asked, the question directed towards Jellybean, and FP tried his best not to jump a mile. It  _ was _ a reasonable question to ask, he reminded himself. 

 

“This is my daughter,” he said. “She wanted to come with us to check on her younger sibling.” 

 

“JB,” Jellybean offered. “Alice said I could come, but I don’t want to get her in trouble, so, if it’s not okay, I’ll leave.” 

 

“Of course it’s fine, I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m Dr. Patel.” 

 

“I know who you are,” she informed her. “I did my due diligence.” 

 

It was clear to FP that the doctor thought Jellybean was the most adorable child she had had the pleasure of encountering, which FP sort of agreed with, in that he thought Jellybean was adorable, but he suspected that Dr. Patel didn’t realize that JB was sizing her up as a potential victim. 

 

They were waiting for Alice to finish getting weighed and her blood drawn. JB had wanted to watch, but FP had insisted that Alice was allowed to maintain some semblance of privacy.

 

“Aren’t you adorable?” 

 

“I just want Alice and the baby to have the best medical care possible,” JB said. “I don’t know what is adorable about that, but I love them, and I want them to be okay.” 

 

“JB, here, has been doing research on what Alice is going through,” he added. “She’s very excited about being a big sister.” 

 

“Of course she is. Is this your first time?”

 

“Duh. Dad and Alice only have one kid together.” 

 

FP winced inwardly at the comment. It was more than a little depressing that he and Alice had (in reality) more children together than he’d had with Gladys. He know that the realities of biology didn’t matter much when compared to the eleven years he’d been dad, but it really did hurt him a bit. A lot. Even though it was dumb because Jellybean didn’t know. 

 

“I thought maybe your mother--”   
  


“We don’t talk about Jellybean’s mother,” FP said, his tone firm. “She’s not involved in her life.”

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize,” Dr. Patel said. “Let me go get the equipment, I’ll be right back.” 

 

“It’s okay, Daddy,” JB insisted. “I didn’t get upset when she asked about Mom. She probably thought we were a normal family.” 

 

“You meant those things that you said, about wanting Alice and the baby to have the best medical care? You’ve really done your due diligence?” Jellybean nodded. She seemed proud. “Where’d you learn what that meant?” FP asked her. “You’ve been hanging around your brother again?” 

 

“He offered to let me read his book,” she informed him. “You know how Juggie is, Daddy.” 

 

FP chuckled. “Yeah, kiddo, I know how Jugs is.” 

 

“Did the two of you scare off poor Dr. Patel?” Alice asked as she entered the room, a knowing smirk on her lips. “FP?”

 

“Maybe a little bit,” he admitted. 

 

“She asked about my mom,” JB muttered. 

 

“I’m sorry, sweetie,” she cooed. “No one will ask about your mother here, ever again, okay?” 

 

“Did they hurt you when they gave you the needle?”

 

“No, sweetie, it didn’t hurt. The tests are important, anyways. For me and the baby.” 

 

“I know,” she said. “I just want you and the baby to be okay.” 

 

“They’re okay, Jellybelly,” he interjected. “See? Alice’s showing. Not a lot, yeah, but a little bit. Cutest baby belly I’ve ever seen.” 

 

“Is it, Jonesy?” 

 

“Course it is,” he said. “Can’t believe I get to cuddle up to that every night now.” 

 

“It’s gonna get bigger, Dad.”

 

“Yeah, I know,” he grinned. “I can’t wait. Come ‘ere, Allie.” He beckoned her closer, and she obliged, and he pressed a kiss to her belly. “Can’t wait to see you, and hear your heartbeat again. I love you, little one.” 

 

“I want to say hi, too, Daddy. Can I?”

 

“Of course, honey,” Alice said. “Come here and give her a kiss.”

 

The examination proceeded routinely, and FP felt most of his anxiety about the entire situation slipping away. It seemed that both Alice and the little one...er, ones, rather, on the way were doing well. He’d been afraid that there was something wrong with him, that he’d been defective, and that that was why Jellybean wasn’t his. It appeared that that hadn’t been the case. Gladys was just a bitch. That didn’t matter to him anymore. She was gone and JB had no idea, and there were two new babies in his very present girlfriend that they needed to consider. That  _ he _ needed to consider. If JB was clueless and focused on the little ones that were on the way, he would do his best to follow in her footsteps. 

 

“I  _ told _ you that you were having twins,” Jellybean said, her pride at herself evident in her tone, and Alice managed to smile at her. “You two thought that I was full of it, but I knew. I looked it up.” 

 

“Maybe we should have listened to you,” she agreed. “This is certainly something to be excited about. You okay, honey?”

 

“Yeah, Al, I’m fine,” FP said, after a moment. “Just taking it all in.”

 

“It’s okay if you’re not okay,” she whispered, and she squeezed his hand. “I would understand. I mean, we thought we were only having one.”

 

“Al, no, I’m happy about it,” he assured her, and she smiled as he covered her abdomen with his hands. “It’s amazing, I mean, two babies?”

 

“Do you think they’re gonna get along in there?” Jellybean asked. “I don’t want them to fight.” 

 

“I’m sure they will, sweetie.” 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “She’s staying for forever,” FP whispered, not moving from where he’d fallen asleep.

“Oh, B, look,” Betty heard Veronica say in a hushed tone, and she paused beside her in the entrance to the living room, where a most curious sight awaited them. Betty rarely saw her mother in any sort of relaxed state, and she could count the times that her parents had been privately affectionate with one another on one hand, and yet, there was her mother, sprawled out on the couch, clad in (of all things) a t-shirt and flannel pajama pants, and she was  _ allowing _ FP to use her as a human body pillow, though she wasn’t sure if Jughead’s father was awake or not. “I’ve never seen that in real life before,” Veronica continued. “They look happy together.” 

 

Alice looking happy at all was a novelty for Betty, and she was hesitant to interrupt the couple. Her mother seemed engrossed in the book she was reading, and if FP was sleeping, well, he deserved to be able to. It was tough being the Sheriff. 

 

“I know you’re there, Elizabeth,” Alice informed her. Betty let out a quiet shriek. “Oh, will you relax. I’m not going to castigate you. Hello, Veronica.”

 

“Hi, Ms. Smith,” Veronica said. “How are you feeling?” 

 

“Oh, I’m feeling fine,” she told her. “Just adjusting to being back here.” 

 

“How was your appointment, Mom?” Betty asked. “Did everything go okay?” 

 

“Everything’s perfect,” Alice said, and Betty watched her ruffle FP’s hair. He snored loudly in response. “I’m doing as well as can be expected, and, for now, so are the babies.” 

 

“Babies?” 

 

Her mother nodded. “Yeah, we found out that we’re having twins.” 

 

“Mom, that’s amazing,” she told her. “That’s good, right?”

 

“We think so,” she whispered. “I hope that you and Jughead agree.”

 

“Of course I agree,” Betty said. It was true that it was a little weird that Jughead’s dad and her mom were involved in a relationship and were having two babies together, but it wasn’t the strangest thing that had come out of Riverdale and, more importantly, being with FP made her mother happy, and more in touch with reality. Betty had spent months longing for a sane, reasonable, Alice to return, and she was not going to begrudge however she’d gotten it. “Just promise me, Mom?”

 

“Promise you what?” 

 

“That you won’t name them Juniper and Dagwood?” 

 

“Hell no,” FP said, his voice thick with sleep. “That won’t be happening.”

 

“Mr. Jones, you’re awake,” she commented. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” 

 

“It’s cool,” he mumbled. “I told you, you call me FP now.” 

 

“Okay,” Betty agreed. “I’ll try.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. “Congratulations.” It felt awkward congratulating her mother and FP for being reckless with contraception and ending up with twins on the way, but she figured she would go with it. It had become clear to her that FP loved her mother (and the babies that were on the way) and seemed to Betty that he always had. “Is it okay that Veronica came over to hang out with me?” 

 

“I don’t have a problem with it,” he said. “Allie?”

 

“It’s fine, Elizabeth.”

 

“Can she stay the night?” 

 

“I don’t have to,” Veronica added. “Things are just...awkward at home. My mom thinks it’s my fault that Archie’s dad won’t hire her back as his bookkeeper.”

 

“That would be mine,” Alice admitted. “I suppose.” 

 

“Are  _ you _ spending the night?” 

 

“Honestly, Elizabeth, yes. Do you think I would be dressed like this if I wasn’t spending the night? I have some fashion standards still.” 

 

“I just wanted to make sure,” Betty said. 

 

“She’s staying for forever,” FP whispered, not moving from where he’d fallen asleep. “I guess that means the trailer is yours and Jughead’s.” 

 

“FP! No, that is not acceptable. We are all staying here. We’re going to be a family.” 

 

“It was a joke, Allie, I didn’t mean it. I like that, though. Us being a family.” 

 

“Of course we’re a family.” 

 

Betty got the sense that she and Veronica were quickly being forgotten about, judging by the look in her mother’s eyes, and she equally felt that she and Veronica would be better served by not staying in the room with the oblivious couple. 

 

“We’re going to go upstairs, Mom.”

 

“We are?” Veronica asked, her tone surprised. “I thought we were going to watch a movie?”

 

“Later,” Betty said, and she nodded to the twosome that were on the couch. “I think they want some alone time.”

 

“Oh,” she said. “I get it.” 

 

“Is that alright, Mom?” 

 

“Yes, Elizabeth, we’ll call you when it’s time for dinner,” Alice replied, her tone dismissive, and Betty took that as her cue to take her leave. 

 

She really didn’t want to see her mother and FP undress each other with their eyes, or worse, with their hands. 

 

“When did that happen?” Veronica asked her, when they were safely in her bedroom, and she’d closed the door behind them. “I mean, I knew that your mom and FP were having a baby together, what is with this living together? Being all romantic???” 

 

“I don’t know, V. Maybe they just stopped fighting their feelings for one another. I’m just glad that my mom doesn’t want to stay in that trailer by herself anymore.”

 

Betty had to admit that she had been worried about Alice. She knew that her mother had had a hard time coming to terms with the events that had happened over the course of the past year, and more likely, over her entire life. The pregnancy had been unexpected, yes, and the family that Alice and FP seemed to be pushing surprised Betty even more, but she had to admit that it would be nice to have a family again. Sure, Polly was long gone and hard to find, and she knew that when (if) she was found they would have to put up with raising Juniper and Dagwood. Her father was in jail, as was Jughead and Jellybean’s mother, and life certainly wasn’t perfect. 

 

Betty was tired of having the perfect life, though, so she was happy to be finally imperfect. 

 

“Do you think your mom and FP would mind if I stayed in the trailer? If things get bad at home?” 

 

“Why wouldn’t you just stay here?” 

 

“I couldn’t ask them to do that,” Veronica said. “It would be putting them out. I know that your mom doesn’t need that.”

 

“I don’t think my mom would be thrilled with you staying at the trailer, V. It wouldn’t be putting anyone out. You and your mom took Polly in, remember?” 

 

“Was that before or after she conned your mom into joining that creepy cult?” Jellybean’s voice asked, and Betty glanced up to see that the younger girl was standing in the doorway, unabashedly listening in. “What? I’m bored, and Dad and your mom are kissing.”

 

“I think they’re just excited about the babies,” Betty offered. “Do you want to hang out with V and me?”

 

“I’m excited about the babies too,” JB said. “A little bit, at least.” 

 

“It’s okay to be excited,” Veronica said. “You’re going to be a big sister.”

 

“I know, but what if Daddy forgets me? The twins are going to be his babies with your mom, what if he decides that he loves them more than he loves me?” 

 

“I don’t think that’s possible, JB,” Betty insisted. “Your dad loves you so much. When you lived in Ohio he just wanted you back in his life. Just because Mom and your dad are adding to our family doesn’t mean that my mom loves me any less and that your dad loves you any less.” 

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Of course I’m sure. Did you have a good time with them today?” 

 

Betty had been hurt to not be invited to Alice’s doctor’s appointment, until her mother had explained that she and FP wanted Jellybean to get to feel included in the pregnancy. JB had taken her mother being arrested badly -- and the fact that FP was dating her mother had been taken even worse. Frankly, Betty was stunned that the preteen was speaking to either her or Alice, let alone wanting to spend time with them. 

 

Jellybean joined her and Veronica on the bed. “I got to see the babies,” she answered. “I think I scared your mom’s doctor.” 

 

“What happened?”

 

“She thought I was some cute, little, kid,” she informed them. “That I was to be pandered to.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m not a five year old.”

 

“Of course you’re not.” 

 

“Dr. Patel thought that I was.”

 

“I’m sorry.” It was clear that being thought of as a child was something that Jellybean deeply disapproved of. “I think that you’re really grown up, going with them to the doctor’s,” she told her. “I’ve never been to one.”

 

“Not even for Polly?”

 

“No.” 

 

“You should go next time, we can go together. I think your mom would like that.”

 

“Did you want to watch movies with V and me tonight?” Betty offered. “You can even pick?”

 

“Do you really want me to?” JB’s eyes lit up at the thought, before she masked them with her practiced look of indifference. “I want to. If you don’t mind, Veronica.”

 

“No, I don’t mind. Maybe we could do mani pedis?”

 

“That would be cool,” she said, after a moment. “But no Jughead. And no grown ups. They can have fun without us.”

  
  


***

 

“What do you mean, you’re kicking me out of my own living room?” Alice demanded, thoroughly unamused. “What if FP and I wanted to watch something on television, Elizabeth?”

 

“You can,” Betty said. “Upstairs. JB wants to have a girl’s night with V and me. She wants to bond with me, isn’t that what you and FP want?”

 

“Ugh, Elizabeth, fine.”

 

“It’s okay, Al,” FP whispered in her ear, and she felt him wrap his arms around her. “The girls can bond down here, and  _ we _ can bond upstairs. The boy is at Red’s for the night, I don’t see why we can’t give the girls what they want.”

 

“You didn’t mention that development,” Alice purred. “Well, I suppose that will be fine. You and Veronica really don’t mind?”

 

“No, I think V can use the distraction,” Betty said. “Things aren’t good at home.”

 

Alice sighed. “Oh, okay, fine. I don’t want to hear about the three of you staying up until all hours, do I make myself clear, Elizabeth?” 

 

“Of course, Mom. It’s not going to be like that.”

 

“I hope not.”

 

“We’re just going to be having makeovers and watching movies, Mom, probably eating food that you hate. Do you really want JB deciding that you and FP should join us?”

 

“I suppose not,” she sighed. “Just please, Elizabeth, if she gets to be too much for you two, tell us.” 

 

“I will, Mom, but I don’t think she will be. You and FP should just relax, enjoy the night off.” 

 

“I hate that word,” Alice muttered. “Have you  _ ever _ seen me partake in relaxing?” 

 

Betty smirked. “What would you have called earlier? You and FP in the living room? Lounging on the couch?” 

 

“I was reading a book, Betty, not relaxing. FP was the one who fell asleep. I was facilitating him bonding with our unborn children.” 

 

Betty gave her a knowing gaze. Alice scowled. “Fine, you can ‘facilitate FP bonding with your unborn children’, Mom. You can call it  _ whatever _ you want.” She skipped out of the room before Alice could even begin to formulate a retort. 

 

“What’s the matter with relaxing?” FP asked. “Seemed to me you were enjoying yourself earlier.”

 

“There’s nothing  _ wrong _ with relaxing,” she sighed. “I just prefer that my children remember that they are children and don’t presume to tell me what to do with you during our unexpected child free evening.” 

 

“What did you have in mind?” 

 

“I was thinking it would be a shame not to watch myself in that mirror you’ve hung up in front of our bed, if you want to know the truth.”

 

“Doggy style still safe?” 

 

Alice nodded, and she shifted in his arms so that she could give him a kiss. “It’s actually missionary that they don’t recommend.” 

 

“We don’t have that problem, do we?” FP cupped her butt through her pajama pants. “The missionary? When the hell have we ever done that?” 

 

“Probably never. It’s a shame we’re not allowed downstairs, you know. I think that pool table would be hot.” 

 

“You’d fuck me on our pool table?” 

 

“You know how it goes,” she said, her tone light. “My hormones are all over the place. It would be  _ criminal _ not to let me have my way with you on every surface of our house, if I wanted to.”

 

“Not the kids’ rooms.” 

 

“No, not the kids’ rooms,” she agreed. “There are so many other choices, though.”   
  


“It  _ would  _ be criminal not to help with your needs,” he murmured, and his hands dipped lower. “As our Sheriff, I certainly don’t want to be committing any crimes.”

 

“You know what  _ other _ perk you have as the Sheriff?” Alice asked him, and she stared up at him with hooded eyes. “You’ve got 24.7 access to a pair of cuffs.” 

 

“Have you been naughty, Ms. Smith?” His tone was teasing. “Naughty girls get in trouble, you hear?” 

 

“I’ve been  _ very _ naughty, Sheriff Jones.” 

 

“Well, you know what they say,” he murmured, his breath hot against her. “You can take the girl out of the Southside…”   
  


“...but you can’t take the Southside out of the girl.”

 

“Damn straight, babe.” He kissed her again. “You feel up to it now?” 

 

“Right now your children are hungry,” she informed him, feeling a bit sheepish at the fact that she felt she needed to turn down sex for food, of all the things. “And, seeing as I can’t use my kitchen...it would appear that you and I are going to Pop’s.” 

 

“I like the sound of that.”

 

“Going out to eat instead of having sex?” Alice raised an eyebrow. 

 

“Oh, I figured that we could stop at the grocery store on the way home and buy a little...dessert,” he admitted. “Some whipped cream for me...some chocolate sauce for you…?” 

 

“Oh, that sounds good. And ice cream. I want ice cream.”

 

“It won’t make you sick?” 

 

She shook her head. “I’ll take a Lactaid.” 

  
  
  
  



	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “He was never happy that they were both girls,” she added. “I told him that was too damn bad. I’d had a son, and he’d blown it.”

“Where are you guys going?” Jellybean demanded of FP, who was waiting for Alice to finish getting changed into something ‘more suitable for polite society’ (he was pretty sure that plenty of people went to the diner in pajamas, but knew better than to tell her that). “Are Alice and the babies okay?”

 

“Yeah, JB, they’re fine,” he assured her. “We’re just gonna go out to eat.”

 

“You don’t want to watch movies with us?” 

 

FP did not want to watch movies with the girls. He also knew better than to admit that to Jellybean. 

 

“The babies want us to go out to eat,” he improvised, and her eyes lit up. “They’re making Alice have cravings. It would be wrong to stay home and deny them, wouldn’t it?”

 

“Oh, I wouldn’t want them to be sad they couldn’t get what they wanted to eat. Okay, Daddy. You and Alice should make the babies happy.”

 

“You’re gonna have a good time with Betty and Veronica, okay? If you really need me, you can call me. Or Alice. All right?”

 

“Yeah, okay,” she said. “Do they really want to hang out with me?”

 

“Of course they do.”

 

“Okay, you and Alice can go have fun then. I’ll be okay.”

 

“Are you sure, JB?” She nodded, and she wrapped her arms around him tightly. “Okay, sweetie, but you know you can always call us, and we’ll come home.” 

 

“I know, Dad. It’s okay. If you and Alice are really okay with me hanging out with Betty and Veronica, I don’t mind. I didn’t know if I was too young for them.” 

 

“You’re not too young to watch movies with them and do whatever the hell else it is that they plan to do with you,” he promised, his tone gruff. “Tomorrow, we can watch cartoons together, if you want.” 

 

“I do want to,” she insisted. “It’s not, like, babyish, is it?” 

 

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I like them, do you think I’m a baby?” 

 

“No, you’re a badass.” 

 

FP had to admit to himself that he didn’t entirely know whether or not he would consider himself to not be a baby or a badass, but he resolved not to dwell on his emotions and focus his thoughts on the fact that Jellybean thought he was a badass, instead of a less-than-flattering term he was sure that she’d thought when Gladys was manipulating her. It was nice to be semi-respected by his children. He knew that he’d managed to gain Jughead’s respect back after his sobriety and release from jail (though he wasn’t entirely certain he’d deserved it with such immediacy), he was frankly stunned that JB was viewing him with anything less than contempt, given that she no longer had to pretend that she liked him. 

 

He was pissed off at Gladys for that. He had fucked up, been a shit father, been a terrible husband, but he had  _ never _ used Jughead or Jellybean as a  _ pawn _ in their relationship. If Jughead had formed negative opinions of his mother independent of FP, that was Jughead’s business, even if he agreed with them. The fact that Gladys had thought that he would turn a blind eye to her drug operation just because of a vow they’d  _ had _ to take because Jughead was on the way and FP wasn’t going to abandon his damn kid, so they had had to get married? That pissed him off. 

 

Not as much as finding out from JB herself that Gladys had been using her as a distraction. 

 

“What are you two doing?” Alice asked, having joined them in the entranceway. “Is everything okay?”

 

“Yeah, babe,” he said. “JB was just saying goodbye to me.” 

 

JB seemed to be appraising Alice, whether it was because of the clothes she had on, or because she was still unsure of what to make of the woman, he wasn’t sure. He wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted to find out. 

 

“Why aren’t you showing in that?” 

 

Alice looked amused. “Because it’s a loose top,” she told her, and he saw a smile twitch at her lips. “Don’t worry, JB. It’s too early for me to be showing in everything.” 

 

“JB! You can’t ask Alice questions like that!” 

 

“Honey, it’s fine,” she said. “She’s just curious about the gummy bears.” She motioned for JB to come closer to her, and she obliged. “Did you want to say goodbye to them?” 

 

“Am I going to bother them? I don’t want to upset them and make you sick or anything. Daddy said that they were making you have cravings again.” 

 

“You’re not going to bother them,” Alice whispered, and FP (who felt somewhat like he was intruding on the two of them) took JB’s momentary distraction as an opportunity to slip on his jacket. He grabbed Alice’s from the closet as well. “I want you to talk to them, so that you get used to it, so they’ll recognize your voice. In a few weeks they’ll be able to hear.” 

 

“I didn’t know that. Did you know that, Dad?” 

 

“It’s news to me, too, JB,” he admitted. “It’s been a long time since I was experiencing this, you know.”

 

“Not  _ that _ long,” she insisted. “I’m 11, Dad, not old like Jugs is. You should say hi to them, too.” 

 

“Yes, honey, say hi.” 

 

“Of course I’ll say hi.” FP ruffled JB’s hair, and he kissed Alice tenderly. “You don’t have to worry about that.” 

 

He knelt down so that he was eye level with Alice’s waist, and he carefully lifted the hem of her shirt, exposing a sliver of skin to the air. He pressed his lips to her belly, taking care to ensure that he hadn’t irritated her with his beard. He knew that pregnancy could make her skin more sensitive, and he really didn’t want to give her beard burn because he’d dared to be affectionate with their little gummy bears. 

 

“You have to say it,” JB insisted. “So they really know.” 

 

“You really think so?” 

 

“Uh-huh, they need to know who their daddy is. It would be weird if they recognized their  _ favorite _ eleven year old’s voice and  _ not _ their daddy’s.” 

 

“I guess you have a point, Jellybean.” FP felt fairly ridiculous. He was sure that he looked absolutely foolish as he knelt in the hallway, his head pressed against Alice’s barely visible baby bump, but he decided that it was worth it to make her and JB happy. “Hey, guys,” he said, his voice low. “It’s me, uh, your dad. I hope you two are behaving in there. You be good to your mother.” 

 

“That was sweet,” Alice said. “Come on, Jonesy. Why don’t we say goodbye to the girls and head out?” 

 

“Sounds good to me.” 

 

Betty and Veronica were setting up the living room for their movie night with JB, and FP made a concentrated effort not to look at the pool table in their dining room for too long. He already had a hard enough time keeping himself in control around Alice as it was, and he did not want to add having popped a stiffy in front of two teenage girls and a preteen girl to his list of issues. 

 

Alice was damn hot, though, he had to admit. 

 

It was inappropriate to be thinking those things in mixed company, though, and FP knew that. 

 

Especially when the mixed company consisted partly of his daughter and Betty, who he considered to be as good as. 

 

“Alice and I, we’re gonna head out, okay?” FP addressed the girls, as he placed a supportive hand on Alice’s lower back. “We won’t be out very late, I don’t think, but here’s some money for takeout, or whatever.” 

 

He pulled out his money clip, and peeled off a couple bills. He knew that Veronica probably didn’t need his money, but he was capable of providing it for her and Betty nonetheless. It was a point of pride for him, since he hadn’t been able to for so long. 

 

“Elizabeth, you can text me if you need us,” Alice added. “We’re just going to Pop’s. We really shouldn’t be out that long.” 

 

“Mom, it’s okay. V and I can handle things. We want to spend time with JB. You and FP can have a good time.”

 

“Thanks, Betty, we really appreciate it.”

  
  


***

  
  


“You don’t have to talk to the babies, if you don’t want to,” Alice said, her voice soft, as she sat beside FP in his pickup truck, and pillowed her head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry, I know that we put you on the spot in there.” 

 

“I don’t mind talking to them,” he said, and she snuggled closer. “I love them, Al, they’re our kids. I never thought that we’d ever be happy together after shit blew up with Featherhead, let alone thought we’d be having kids of our own.” He licked his lips. “It’s just that when she was pregnant, with  _ either _ of them, it was like my wanting to acknowledge the fact that she was pregnant and that we were having a baby was the world’s greatest imposition. Hell, you reacted better when I ran into you and Cooper when you were pregnant with Polly.”

 

“It was nice to have the fact that I was smuggling a watermelon acknowledged,” she admitted. “Seeing as Harold merely considered providing him with children to be my duty as his bride.” 

 

“I never liked the bastard.” 

 

“He was never happy that they were both girls,” she added. “I told him that was too damn bad. I’d had a son, and he’d blown it.” 

 

“Alice, do you want to talk about him? Charles?” 

 

“There’s nothing to talk about.” 

 

“If you wanted to talk about him, we can,” he continued. “I don’t want you to feel like we can’t talk about our son.”

 

“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you,” she said, after a moment of silence. “I regret it every day, I don’t think I’ll ever stop wishing that I had been brave enough to tell you. Maybe we wouldn’t have been able to keep him,” she admitted. “We were just kids, you were homeless, what the hell could we have done with a baby? But at least we could have picked a family for him together, and made sure that he was happy. Maybe we could have even seen him once in awhile, or gotten pictures.” Alice shook her head. “I wrote him a letter. I picked a family. I did everything right and I still failed him.” 

 

“Alice, you didn’t fail him,” FP said, and she felt him tighten the arm he had wrapped around her. “You thought that you were doing what was best for him given the circumstances at the time. I wish you had told me, but I don’t blame you for not telling me. You we’re pregnant, and scared. That’s normal, babe.” 

 

“He died thinking that I hated him,” she whispered. “I didn’t hate him. He didn’t even tell me who he was. If he had I would have wanted to know him.” 

 

“I know, Allie. I would have liked to have met him, too.”

 

“I looked and I couldn’t even find out where he was buried,” she wept. “I figured knowing that for sure would make me realize that there was nothing I could do.” 

 

“We can look together,” he said. “I’ll look into it, using my connections at work. You don’t have to do this alone, Al.”

 

“You’d help me?” 

 

“He’s my son, too, you know. I want answers, just as much as you do.” 

 

“I’d like that,” she whispered, after she semi-composed herself. “If you want to help, I’d really like that.” 

 

“Alice, let me do this for you, for us, for our family.” 

 

“You consider us a family?” 

 

“Yeah. You’re my woman, and we’re having twins together, Alice, and I am all in. I would be all in too even if you weren’t pregnant. You’re the woman that I love, Al. You and Betty, are important to me. I’ll do my best to stand by her and be a good stepfather to her. Be the man that Hal couldn’t be.” 

 

“I like the sound of that,” she whispered, and she smiled up at him. “Being a family. One, big, happy, Jones family.” 

 

“Jones? You’d want to be a Jones?” 

 

Alice burrowed herself closer to his chest. “Might as well, seeing as these two are going to be.”

 

“What about Betty?”

 

“She’ll be a Jones soon enough,” she said. “I don’t think we’ll need to worry about her.” 

 

“You think she’d be okay with us, you know, getting hitched?” 

 

“We’d have to talk to her about it,” Alice said. “We have to talk to all of the kids, honey, it’s what’s right.” 

 

“Of course, we’ll talk to them. I didn’t mean we should take a flight out to Vegas.” 

 

“I sincerely hope not, I would probably spend the entire flight throwing up.” 

 

“They giving you trouble?” 

 

“It’s normal,” she told him. “Just morning sickness. It means that they’re healthy.” 

 

FP pulled into a parking spot, and killed the engine, and she took the invitation to unbuckle her seatbelt and lay so her head was on his lap. She felt his fingers card through her hair. 

 

“I really am okay,” she added. “I promise.” 

 

“I know, Allie.” His voice was soft. “I just want to help you feel better.”

 

“You help me. Being with you, helps me. What you’re doing right now, helps me.” 

 

“You like what I’m doing to your hair?” 

 

“Yeah, it feels nice,” she said. “For the most part, honey, my morning sickness has come and gone. Sometimes I just get really nauseated. And dizzy. But, that’s normal. It means that the placenta is doing what it should be doing, and that the babies are growing as they should be.” 

 

“I still can’t believe we’re having twins. Like, wow, Alice. It’s so damn amazing.”

 

“You’re really happy about it being two babies and not one?” 

 

His hand went from his hair to her stomach, and she felt him cover the tiny swell with his palm. The warmth of his hand felt really good. 

 

“Couldn’t be happier, Al.” 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I probably could,” he pointed out. “I’d like to find him for us, Alice,” he said. “I think that you’re right, that we need closure.”

“I could stay like this forever,” Alice admitted, her fingers still in FP’s hair, and he grinned up at her. He pressed a kiss to her belly. Then another. There were twins to consider after all. “You’re being very cute.”

 

“You’re hungry, babe,” he pointed out. “Don’t have much to eat in the truck.”

 

“You should remedy that. You have a pregnant fiancée on your hands. The babies will need to eat.”

 

“I’m sorry, guys,” he whispered. “Your mom and I will go stock up on food for the truck when we’re done here.”

 

“Come here you big lug,” she teased, and he sat up, pleased when she leaned over and gave him a kiss. “There’s nothing to apologize for. We’re going to be learning together.”

 

“I’m glad you moved home,” he admitted. “I was worried about you and the babies, well, we thought baby at the time, home alone in the trailer.”

 

“I know you were,” she said after a moment. “I’m sorry, I probably should have moved back in sooner, I just couldn’t deal with everything all at once. I was really scared.” 

 

“You don’t have to apologize, Al,” he whispered, and he took her hands in his. “I get why you couldn’t come back. I would have understood if you never could have come back.” He kissed her tenderly. “I would have visited you and the babies whenever I could.” 

 

“That’s not what I want though,” she said. “I want us to be a family together, to share a house, to have meals together. I really want that.” 

 

FP had always wanted that -- the American Dream -- or the American mockery as he’d always felt it was. Constantly slapping him in the face with the knowledge that he was  _ never _ going to obtain it. Not with the woman he’d had to marry when he’d gotten her pregnant, and definitely not with the woman he’d wanted to have it with. Alice. She had felt unattainable when they were kids, and she had  _ definitely _ been unattainable when she’d shacked up with Cooper  _ during _ high school and popped two kids out with the bastard. Of course, he himself had been pressed to marry Gladys when he’d gotten her pregnant with Jughead. He’d resigned himself to his fate. 

 

So, being there with Alice, experiencing these things with Alice, it was like a dream to him. 

 

“God, Al, I love you.” 

 

“I love you, too.”

 

“I can’t wait to go in there with you and take you out on a proper date,” FP said earnestly. He ran his hand across her middle. “You sure you don’t want to go somewhere nicer?” 

 

“No, I want to go on a date at Pop’s,” she told him. “The babies and I want onion rings,” she elaborated, her voice rising in excitement. FP thought she was adorable. “And a bacon burger,” she added. “The babies want cheese on it, but I don’t know if it will agree with me.” 

 

  
“Tell you what,” he said, as he stroked her abdomen. “I’ll get one with cheese, and you can try a bite. If you feel alright, we can switch.” 

 

FP loved Alice. He would do anything for her, even kill. He would definitely find it in him to order the burger that she liked and didn’t think she could eat. 

 

“You’d do that for me?” 

 

“Yeah, Al,” he said. “Of course I’d do that for you. You and the little ones.”

 

Alice gave him a fond look. “You are the sweetest.” She pressed her lips to his. “Come on, let’s go in.” 

 

FP was happy to oblige her. He got out of the driver’s seat and opened the passenger door for her, offering her his hand so that she could get down. She was carrying his -- their -- precious cargo, after all. It was important for him to help her out. He was sad that he couldn’t see the evidence of the pregnancy through her top, but he had to admit that Alice looked damn hot in what she had on, even if it was more casual than what she’d spent the past 25 years wearing. 

 

“I see you’ve co-opted my jacket,” he whispered in her ear, as he looped his arm around her shoulders, pleased when she leaned against him. “Looks hot on you. You can keep it.” 

 

“I like it because it smells like you,” she told him. “We can share, mmm?” 

 

“Yeah, of course we can share,” he said. “I’ll do anything for my girl.”

 

“What do you think we’re having?” 

 

FP knew that was a loaded question. He didn’t know how to answer it, really. Truthfully, he didn’t care what they were having, so long as they both -- and Alice -- were healthy. He knew that that sounded like a cop out, but, it was the truth. Alice wasn’t as young as she’d been during her other pregnancies, and he wanted to ensure that her and the twins had the most successful pregnancy possible. 

 

“I don’t know, babe,” he told her. “Hoping for two healthy babies and a healthy mom.” He pressed a kiss to Alice’s temple. “God, I love you.” He pressed his hand to her belly. “What about you, babe? You have a preference?”

 

“I’d kind of like one of them to be a boy,” she said after a moment, and he noticed how her gaze hit the ground. “I know that would be weird, though.”

 

“It wouldn’t be weird.” It would be. He knew that. But Alice looked so sad at the thought of it being weird that he wanted to reassure her. “Alice, if one of them is a boy, if both of them are, that would make me very happy. The same as if they were both girls.”

 

“It wouldn’t be weird because of Charles?” 

 

“Al, baby, no. Nothing about this is weird because of Charles. I wish that he was here, yeah, but these babies -- our babies -- are the most amazing things ever, at least they are to me.” 

 

“I just miss him so much. I don’t even have the right to miss him, and I still do. I wish that he hadn’t died, FP. But worst of all is the fact that we’ll never have closure because I can’t even find out where he was buried, or if he’s still in the morgue unclaimed, all alone.” 

 

“I probably could,” he pointed out. “I’d like to find him for us, Alice,” he said. “I think that you’re right, that we need closure.” 

 

“What would we tell the kids?” 

 

“Honey,” FP said, as he took her into his arms, and held her as close as he dared, given her current state. “First of all, Jughead and Betty already know about Charles. Second of all, if you want, I can be the one to talk to JB about him. I think she has a right to know that she had an older brother, but I get that that would be hard for you. I won’t make you miserable to avoid an uncomfortable conversation.” 

 

“She can talk to me about him if she wants,” Alice said. “I don’t mind. It’s not an uncomfortable conversation. I’m just hormonal and so sad about it.” 

 

“We can always talk about Charles, Alice,” he said. “If you want to.” Even though it was technically both their decision, he would default to her. It was the right thing to do. She had been the one to give birth to their son, and the only one that had any real connection to him. “If you want to talk, I support that, and if you don’t want to talk, well, I support that too.”

 

“Do you think that he knew that I loved him?” Alice asked, her voice muffled through his shirt. “Or do you think that he thought I hated him, that I didn’t care for him at all?” 

 

“He knew that you loved him, Alice,” FP assured her. “Honey, I don’t want you to take what Chic said to you to heart. He was being cruel. Purposely. Trying to hurt you. It’s not your fault that Charles died. None of this is your fault.” 

 

“I really did love him,” she wept. “I wanted to raise him with you.” 

 

Alice’s admission cut him to his core, but he stayed strong, simply rubbing her back as she sobbed. There was no use dwelling on the past. What was done was done. It wasn’t either of their faults. 

 

“I know, Allie. I know you did.” 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How? I sent him away!”

“What do you mean?” Alice demanded. “How can you just excuse everything terrible that I’ve ever done like it’s nothing?” 

 

“I don’t think that giving the baby up was a terrible thing to do,” FP said after a moment. “I get that it’s something that you didn’t want to do and I understand that, but, Al. You thought that you were doing the right thing by the baby. And given how Harold treated you for the past twenty five years? I doubt that he would have been kind to the kid. Our kid.”

 

She sniffled softly. “He wanted me to have an abortion,” she said. “When I refused, he sent me away. I didn’t want to go, but he said that I had no choice, and my mom...she told me that I had to do what the Coopers wanted me to do. So I pretended I got sent away to Juvie and went away for the duration. I should have told you, but I didn’t want to ruin your life any more than it already was.” 

 

“I know, Al,” he said. “I’m sure that Charles will understand what happened--”   
  


“How? I sent him away!”

 

“Well, there’s the fact that your wonderful ex-husband is on trial for your attempted murder, for starts,” he said quietly. “He’s lucky he’s alive to do so.” 

 

“I wish he wasn’t,” she said after a moment. “I wish he was dead. That I’d killed him.”

 

“I don’t blame you,” FP said tiredly. “Alice, if I could go back and time and fix things for you, for us, I would. In a heartbeat. But life doesn’t work that way. Sometimes all we have to do is move forward. No matter how much moving forward kills us.” He cupped her chin with his hands. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think that you did the wrong thing. I think that you did the best that you could with the shit hand that you were dealt.” 

 

“I don’t want..” She trailed off, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I don’t want you to find Polly. I don’t care how selfish it makes me, I don’t want to deal with those babies. I just want to be done of the entire thing. I know that you’re the Sheriff and you probably don’t have any choice, but I wish that the Blossoms weren’t crazy and that Hal wasn’t a murderous asshole because if they weren’t crazy and he was just my terrible horror of an ex-husband, I would be more than willing to pawn those bastard children off on them. Instead I’m stuck raising Polly’s babies that I never wanted her to have in the first place, or at the very least that I never wanted her to keep.”

 

FP sighed. He couldn’t blame Alice for not wanting to have anything to do with Polly, or her children, and if he was honest he didn’t want to deal with Polly or her children. Jellybean hadn’t noticed that she resembled the elder of the Cooper girls, but she might if she actually associated with Polly, and that was something that FP did not want to deal with under any circumstances. Jellybean was his daughter and he knew that, but he didn’t want either Polly or Jellybean to get it into their heads that she wasn’t. 

 

At the same time, Polly was leading a cult, and he was the Sheriff. Not looking for her was negligent. 

 

“Look, whatever happens, will happen,” he said after a moment. “I know that you feel certain ways about that, yeah? I get it, Al. I don’t want her around Jellybean.” 

 

He sighed, and he dropped his hand from her chin to her abdomen. “Why don’t we go eat, yeah? I’m hungry. And I’m sure you are too. The babies inside of you are Jones babies, after all.” 

 

He quirked a grin at her, pleased when she smiled back. “I love you, Al. You’re the most amazing woman I know.”

 

“You flatter me, Jonesy.” 

 

“Ain’t nothing but the truth,” he whispered, and he drew her to him for a kiss. “You aren’t evil, babe. You’re a person who made flawed choices. That doesn’t mean that you’re a bad person, or a bad mother. You are the best mother that I know.” He kissed her again. “Hell of a lot better of a mother than Gladys was. A better parent than I was for a damn long ass time.” 

 

“You’re sweet,” she said. A faint blush settled on her cheeks. “I am hungry, though. Maybe we should eat before the babies revolt.” 

 

“What do you mean?” FP didn’t know very much about pregnancy. Just bits and pieces gleaned from the slightly exposure he’d had during Gladys’s. He’d been in and out of prison during both of them, so he was less informed than the average father of two. Well. Three. There was Charles, too. FP had just had nothing at all to do with that pregnancy. “You feel okay?” 

 

“Just that I get nauseated when I don’t eat,” she told him. “It’s not a big deal. They just...make it clear that they want food.” She sighed, and wrinkled up her nose. “I wish that they didn’t make me eat so much. By the time they’re out I’ll be bigger than the house.”

 

“You know that I’m gonna think that’s sexy, right? You getting big with our children? Because, Al, damn straight it totally will be.” He licked his lips at the thought. “I don’t care if you get as big as a house as long as you and these two are doing okay. You understand, right?” 

 

She nodded. “Yeah. It’s just weird. Hal never wanted me to gain weight.” She twisted her hands in her lap. “I’m not used to things like this being okay.” 

 

“I know, baby,” he sighed. “I know you’re not. But, Al, I’m gonna do right by you, by our family. Whatever it takes, okay?”

 

“Okay,” she said, and she gave him a teary-eyed smile. “I know. That’s why I love you.”


End file.
